


Bloodsport

by tjbinx



Category: The Vampire Diaries (TV)
Genre: Abuse, Eventual Smut, F/M, Torture, dark themes
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-07-24
Updated: 2017-05-05
Packaged: 2018-07-26 13:12:49
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 9
Words: 51,300
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7575265
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tjbinx/pseuds/tjbinx
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>What if another one of Kai's victims was trapped with him in 1994? Skye tries to forge friendships with Bonnie and Damon in order to get home, but will she be able to fight against Kai's machinations? Or will she give into them like always?</p><p>Received a great response on fanfic.net and thought I should post it here.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. You're His Favorite Worst Nightmare

Set during 6x03, "Welcome to Paradise"

_The dirty little Herbert_  
Was thinking an escape  
But the place was well guarded  
He's nearing the brink but he thinks first  
The parallel universe perhaps could be the perfect scene  
I think you should know you're his favourite worst nightmare  
"D is for Dangerous"-Arctic Monkeys 

 

She had not seen him in four months.  
Normally, Kai's disappearance from her vicinity for any amount of time would be a cause for celebration. She could sleep peacefully through the night without waking up with a knife to her throat. She didn't have to worry about getting ambushed in the shower-grappling with him stark naked and wet as she tried to escape his hold on her neck.  
Of course, the peaceful moments were ruined by his eventual reappearances.  
But he had never stayed away this long.  
Driving past the Mystic Falls Welcome sign, Skye slowed the car down and pulled onto the shoulder of the highway. Getting out, she surveyed the hilly, wooded green landscape and couldn't believe of all the places in the world, Kai would pick a little town in Virginia to spend of all of his time recently. What had he'd been doing? They were the only two people in the world, or well this magical purgatory.  
And he had made no mention of his interest in the small town in the short phone call he had made to her.  
Her suspicion of his disappearance had motivated her to page him, to dial those ridiculous digits. She remembered his amused, sarcastic tone when she had answered the phone and could only imagine the smirk on his face, as he greeted her with, "Well, I must say this is a surprise, Skyler."  
She had collapsed on the sofa of the small house she had been occupying. Relief had hit her hard at the sound of his voice, though she thought it was dumb to feel that way. Nothing could really happen to them in this weird prison world, not even death, but sometimes she figured her brain was still hardwired to worry. The next emotion she had felt was disgust for being worried over him. Skye had quickly collected herself and responded, "Hi, Malachai. Whatcha been up to? Mutilated any neighborhood pets lately?"  
Kai had paused for a moment. "Now, I didn't call you to get insulted. Pets? Really? I think I'm above that." She had rolled her eyes, but listened as he continued. "Anyway, I'm guessing you're worried about little old me in this scary big world. Your concern has touched me deep, Skye. Very deep in the cold cockles of... that thing in the middle of my chest." She could imagine him patting his hand over his heart as he delivered the last line-always the performer. "However, something tells me you would never admit to your concern. So, I'm curious as to what story you're gonna spin me to make me believe otherwise."  
Then it had been Skye's turn to pause. This marked the first time in the 18 years that they had been stuck there that she had ever wondered about his whereabouts-usually, he'd always sought her out and she always tried to evade. She started, "Well, I'm really just curious to find out why and where you've been hiding. I mean, I'm sure there are at least sixty-four more gruesome ways you haven't killed me yet." She had hoped her tone and words came off light and casual to spite the pit in her stomach.  
"True, but I've been too busy for a brainstorming session."  
"Doing what?" she had demanded skeptically.  
"Why don't you come find out?" He had been teasing her, but there was also a small undercurrent of something in his voice that seemed akin to manic glee. Almost like he was bursting to tell her his secret after all, but also enjoyed being coy. When she hadn't immediately responded, he continued: "Look, since I'm a generous mood, I will be willing to give you three clues. One, I may be in one of the thirteen original colonies. Two, the town may be named after a geographic feature paired with a synonym for the occult. Three...hmm...I lied about having a third one."  
She had been scrambling around the house at this point, frantically searching for a pen and paper only to come up empty. And of course the searching had proved distracting and she realized she had only been paying half-attention to his words.  
"Kai, wait a minute. What-"  
"Hope you put that degree of yours to good use," he interrupted. "Bye, babe." The dial-tone had seemed especially cruel just then, but Skye came to the conclusion it was really just the guy that had preceded it.  
It taken her a while to figure out the stupid clues-she spent two weeks huddled in a library in Lawrence, Kansas, pouring over a map of the United States and history books, paying close attention to the East Coast. Amazingly, she had narrowed it down to one town, but only after she racked her brain to remember word for word the clues he had given her.  
Now, Skye made her way down the road, walking, into the township of Mystic Falls. She had abandoned the car in favor of being inconspicuous. She didn't want alert Kai to her arrival just yet. First, she wanted figure out just what he was up to, then she planned to make her presence known in the most dramatic and epic way. Perhaps, it could involve a baseball bat straight to his skull. It was fun having the upper hand sometimes.

Skye set up camp in a house across from the only grocery store in town. Knowing Kai as well as she unfortunately did, he would undoubtedly be stopping by anytime for his fix of saturated fat. The boy had disgusting eating habits-his obsession with pork rinds was her least favorite.  
She had rummaged through the ranch home on her arrival, and to her surprised elation, did actually come across an aluminum baseball bat in what appeared to be the room of a male child. She had walked back to living room, and propped it against the wall right next to the window.  
Now, she was occupying herself, taking strategic peeks through the curtains of the window.  
For thirty minutes, she repeated the process. Peek and duck, peek and duck. Until she glimpsed something she'd never thought she'd see and complete shock took over her body. With her mouth wide open, Sky watched as two very unfamiliar strangers walked into the store. One stranger was a male with dark hair, which could have easily been Kai, but he looked shorter and his gait was more fluid and relaxed. Also, he was wearing plaid-a Kai fashion don't. Kai also definitely couldn't be the accompanying stranger because she was a female with shoulder length brown hair and brown skin. Skye rubbed her eyes, but when she opened them she could still see their figures through the storefront windows.  
"Oh my god," Skye whispered. So this was why Kai had come here.  
She ducked down again, but this time she slouched against the wall. Bringing her hands up to her temples, she sorted through a plan of action. She could approach them right now-that's what her instincts were screaming at her to do. Her uncertainty, however, was battling her instincts. First, she had no idea who these strangers were. Second, Kai was still unaccounted for. But her excitement over the strangers was threatening to burst forth and compel her to act.  
She stood and grabbed the bat, ready to head out of the door when, through the window, she finally spotted him walking around the corner of the store. She was sure it was him, his walk was more measured and he was the right height. His clothes were the biggest indicator-layers, a green canvas jacket paired with a t-shirt.  
He came up to the mechanical carousel by the entrance, and...put a quarter in it? The recorded music chimed out and reached her hideout. Skye furrowed her brow as Kai quickly walked back around the corner from where he had came. It clicked, though, when the strangers came out and approached the horse cautiously. They didn't know Kai was there, which meant he was playing with them. Once a sadist, always a sadist, she thought. She continued to watch the strangers as they struggled to figure out their situation, and argued with each other before the girl walked away and the man strode back into the store.

Kai lounged on the patio chair inside the grocery store, and popped another pork rind in his mouth. Damon and Bonnie bickering over his games with them never ceased to amuse him, but he figured it was finally time to put his plan into action. Especially since Skyler had arrived to join the party.  
He smiled to himself, reminiscing about the last time they had seen each other. Meetings between the two usually went one of two ways: with one of them dead or with sex. He hadn't really been in the mood for the latter. Knives were usually his first choice of weapon, but there was something to be said about fire. The burn and whelps it left behind. And her strangled screams had been delightful; he was one hundred percent sure they were his favorite sound.  
He was still thinking about it when Damon the vampire made his requisite appearance in the liquor, stepping up to the chair Kai was occupying with a slight bewildered expression.  
"Rough day, huh, Damon?" Kai greeted. When Damon said nothing, staring back blankly. Kai continued: "Sorry, manners. I'm Kai. Nice to meet you." Kai held his bag out, offering. "Pork Rind?" He shook it while waiting for Damon to speak, just one word, he would take any word at this point. But Damon just stared until his dark brows drew together.  
Growing bored, Kai started rocking the chair and resumed munching.  
"That is going to have to stop." Finally, a sentence.  
"Oh, you think this is annoying," Kai countered. "Hmm, try listening to you and Bonnie bicker every five minutes." He drove home his point with a loud crunch.  
"So you've been following us?"  
"Of course I have. You two are the closest thing I have to a T.V. I mean you're no Baywatch, but-" Kai interrupted himself, his tone taking on a sense of nostalgia, "Remember Baywatch?"  
"No, I do not." Damon said shortly.  
"Oo, oh man, you gotta watch it. You like lifeguards, like hot ones?" Kai asked while waggling his eyebrows. Kai figured this would push Damon over the edge, and he was right.  
"This has been a monumentally bad day in a sea of bad days so I'm gonna need to know who you are, what you're doing here, and how it relates to me. Or I'm gonna rip your throat out." Damon snapped.  
Kai took on a mock sympathetic tone with his next words, "That temper's gonna get you in trouble, Damon. It's already driven Bonnie away how many times? Oh, wait! I know! Thirteen."  
"You think my temper's bad with her?" Damon asked. "I like her. You, not so much." Then he struck, using his inhuman speed to grab Kai by the collar, out of the chair, and into the air.  
"Okay, okay, sorry," Kai back-tracked, his expression scared. "Seriously, I'm just kinda rusty on the face to face type human interactions."  
Damon released him, with a snarl. Kai back away quickly. "Answers. Now." Damon commanded, walking back to the shelf lined with the assortment of alcohol.  
"Maybe you should have a drink," Kai suggested. "It usually calms you down."  
"Thanks," Damon said, giving him a dubious look.  
"Then it makes you angry, then sad, then calm again. It's a weird cycle."  
Damon opened a bottle of bourbon, and tipped it towards Kai sarcastically. However, Kai kept talking while Damon lifted the bottle to his lips. "And look, if you really want to know the reason I'm following you, it's because I want to kill you." Damon spit out the amber liquid in an explosive stream and fell to his knees, coughing. Kai looked out on to the scene with a wide grin and chuckled. Damon was completely on the floor now, his mouth irritated and red, choking up more liquid. "Vervain in your bourbon," Kai said. "Who didn't see that one coming?"  
As Damon tried to get his bearings, Kai commenced a tirade, throwing out his hands and walking back to the patio furniture display. "Who buys patio furniture from a grocery store? I mean somebody must, otherwise it wouldn't be here." Grabbing an umbrella, he turned back to Damon. "Now, I'm a little unfamiliar with vampires-" Kai snapped the wooden umbrella handle over his leg, "-but from what I've gathered, a stake in the heart should do it, right?" Kai threw the handle behind himself casually and brought down the umbrella top with force. Damon had held out his hand to fend off the attack, but the jagged point pinned it to the floor. He let out a loud groan of pain. Kai twisted the umbrella slowly while Damon glared back with murderous eyes. "You always fight dirty, Damon. That time you and Bonnie played Monopoly and you stole from the bank. Not cool." Damon ripped his hand back, and stood. Kai had retreated, tipping the umbrella to rest on his shoulder.  
"I'm gonna rip your head off," Damon threatened.  
"No, you're not," Kai stated calmly. Damon started forward menacingly, but Kai swung his umbrella along the shelves, breaking all the bottles in the process. Glass and liquid exploded onto the floor and Damon, who fell to his knees again with a yell, being burnt. He groaned. "I didn't know which bottle you'd take so I vervained them all," Kai admitted. He raised the umbrella overhead, ready to make the killing stroke. He didn't really need him after all, though it kind of sucked that his plan wasn't working.  
"Stay away from him," a new voice spoke. Scratch that, Bonnie had come. Kai was excited but he didn't let it show. He was hoping she'd live up to his expectations, especially in this situation. Kai raised his eyes to her, while Damon looked towards her hopefully.  
"The useless one is here," Kai goaded. "Thank god. You know, I've tried to watch you do magic for months now. What're you going to do? Fail at me? It's embarrassing; I'm embarrassed for you." Bonnie just held Kai eyes, looking vulnerable, his words obviously getting to her, but she looked down at Damon, who was slowly healing, with a small degree of desperation.  
Kai raised the umbrella again, but Bonnie looked over at the candle on the shelf adjacent. She concentrated and the candle lit on its own. A small smirk graced Damon's face. Giving a small, almost unbelieving laugh,Bonnie looked towards a worried Kai with triumph. "Uh oh," he said.  
"Run," she commanded Damon, who immediately vamped out. "Phasmatos Incendia." The alcohol on the floor caught fire, surrounding Kai.  
"Okay," Kai said, trying to placate, holding his hands up in surrender. He tossed the ruined umbrella aside, "Okay, okay."  
"Giving up so soon?" Bonnie mocked. "I'm embarrassed for you."  
Kai didn't have time to react to her words, before Damon was knocking him over the head with the umbrella handle and with enough force to send him flying into lawn chairs.  
"Sorry I called you the most annoying person in the world," Damon said to Bonnie. "I hadn't met him yet."

The strangers emerged from the grocery store just ten minutes after Skye had witnessed the girl go in again. However, this time they held an unconscious Kai between them-the girl supporting his arms while the man held his legs. She chuckled to herself. If they could handle Kai, maybe, they could actually be of help to her. At least that's what she hoped.  
The strangers loaded Kai into the back seat of a powder blue Camaro and got in, pulling out of the parking lot moments later. Skye quickly grabbed the bat and dashed out of the door. Running up to the sidewalk, she craned her neck up the street. They were going straight, and she started to trail after the car, with the intention to trace its path.

Kai awoke in a chair, already annoyed with the throbbing of his head. He opened his eyes, and stretched his neck. He knew he was back at the massive, overly brown house. What they called the Salvatore boarding house, the headquarters of Damon and Bonnie all these months. He looked over to his left, seeing Damon standing in front of roaring fireplace with a bag of pork rinds in one hand and a fire poker in the other.  
"You're awake," Damon stated the obvious while Kai flexed his bound hands. "Good, now for the Q&A portion of the evening."  
"Let me guess," Kai said. "I answer right, I get a pork rind. Wrong, I get a poker."  
Damon glanced down at the bag. "What? No, no, no." He hid the bag behind his back. "These are for me, you just get the poker." He prodded Kai's chest with the poker.  
"Yeah, you don't have to do that," Kai reasoned.  
"No?" Damon asked, hitting it against Kai's shoulder.  
"We're on the same team," Kai said, his face serious as the poker sailed over his head to his other shoulder.  
"Really?" Bonnie broke in, stepping closer to him. "Do you always try and kill your teammates?"  
Kai ignored her question. "The important thing is that you have your magic back. It worked." Bonnie and Damon traded doubtful glances. "You didn't- You didn't really think I'd kill Damon, did you?" The witch's and the vampire's expressions assured him that they really believed the idea.  
Laughing incredulously, Kai asked, "In what universe does that make sense? I wouldn't kill one-fourth of our population. I'm not a monster." The two idiots just stared back at him, waiting for his rationale. They hadn't even noticed his little slip of the tongue, though Damon had raised one of his fascinatingly expressive eyebrows. Or if they both had caught it, they weren't concerned with it. Not that there was anything to fear from Skyler, except excessive crying.  
Deciding to square with them, he explained himself. "I knew Bonnie would show up. She always comes back. All thirteen times. And I knew with the right motivation, she'd be able to access her magic." Now, they were getting it. But he wanted to make them uncomfortable, so he continued. "Although I did get a little worried with all your bickering that Damon's life wouldn't be enough motivation. But turns out, it was. I guess that's just how you two show your love."  
"So you did all that just to make sure I'd have my magic?" Bonnie asked skeptically.  
"Of course I did," Kai said, like it should make all the sense in the world. "Because your magic is the key to getting the hell out of here."  
This information settled over the both of them heavily for a moment, before Damon spoke up, an eyebrow raised. "Wait a minute, you said one-fourth earlier. One-fourth of the population." Damon leveled the poker at Kai's throat. "Either you're really bad at math, or there's something else you're not telling us." Kai just started back steadily, a smirk across his face.  
That's when the three sharp knocks sounded at the front door.  
"There she is," Kai said fondly, her timing was always impeccable.  
"She?" Damon questioned, already vamp speeding to the door. Bonnie followed him at a more human pace, curiosity written over her face.  
"Thanks for tying me up, guys. I just love bondage," Kai said to the empty room.  
In the foyer, Damon opened the wooden door to reveal a tall, averagely built girl with blonde hair and an heart-shaped face, dressed casually, a baseball bat dangling at her side. She looked nervous, and gripped the bat tightly.  
"Hi," she said simply.  
"Took you long enough!" Kai shouted distantly.


	2. The Unforecasted Storm

Set during 6x04, "Black Hole Sun"

_Some want to kiss, some want to kick you_

_There's not a net you couldn't slip through_

_Or at least that's the impression I get_

_Cause you're smooth and you're wet_

_And she's not aware yet, but she's yours_

_She'll be sayin' "Use me"_

_I doubt it's your style_

_Not to get what you set out to acquire_

_The eyes are on fire_

_You are the unforecasted storm_

"Brianstorm"- Arctic Monkeys

Fall of 1992, Library, University of Oregon

Skye liked working in the library, but only when she didn't have to restock the books on the shelves. Some of the deepest corners of the vast, cavernous library, like the one she was working in now, were ill-lit and eerily silent. She often felt like she wasn't alone, or that she saw shadows in her periphery. Tonight was no exception, especially since night had fallen, and she was trying to make quick work of the stocking and completely absorbed in the task. So absorbed she didn't see the figure approaching from behind. She didn't feel them either until they had reached their hand up to push a book she was struggling with further in on a tall shelf. She reacted violently, jumping and nearly shouting "Oh my god." Putting a hand to her chest, in an effort to calm her palpitating heart, she turned quickly to the intruder. It was a boy, tall and lean, with short dark hair and a narrow, but handsome and angular face. He's actually kinda hot, she thought. He was grinning, showcasing square white teeth.

"So sorry. I didn't mean to sneak up on you," he laughed. He seemed amused by her reaction. She just stared at him, flustered and blushing. His eyes-they looked black almost in the dim aisle; uneasiness caused a tingling over her skin. Trying to collect herself, she attempted to laugh with him. "I'm sorry," she said, "I almost screamed your ear off."

"Yep," he agreed, but he reached up to pull on his earlobe. "Though still attached, so no harm done."

Giving him a genuine smile for his playfulness, she calmed down and gestured back to the shelf. "Thanks for the help, I guess, with the book."

"No problem." The boy's teeth were doing something weird to her, she felt like she was in a haze. "Actually, I had approached you because I was wondering if you could help me to find this book." Handing her a slip of paper, she read the call number for the book.

"The Human Anatomy?" she asked, already headed down the aisle in the right direction.

"Yeah," he confirmed, trailing along side her. "Pre-med major, sophomore year. You?"

"English Lit, also a sophomore." The boy smirked instead this time, his white teeth disappearing. Holding out his hand for her to shake, he introduced himself. "Kai Parker. Nice to meet you."

She took his hand, it was warm and large, and enclosed over her's for a moment too long. "Skye Lambert."

"And, of course, I broke into the oval office and took a picture of myself at the window, looking all JFK. But then I was like, 'Wait, how am I gonna get these photos developed?"

*************

Kai was babbling again, and all Skye could do was lean back against the chair she was bound to and rhythmically bang her head against it. Eyeing Damon, she could tell he was just annoyed as with Kai as she was.

Thinking back to the night before, Skye cringed. She had just said "hi" to them, the strangers she now knew as Damon and Bonnie. She had simply stood and said "hi," and Damon and Bonnie just stared back at her in muted surprise. Her nerves had gotten the best of her. It didn't matter though, because not two seconds after her embarrassing greeting, the bat was forced off of her grip and she was whisked inside the house. The next thing she knew she was bound in an armchair next to a guffawing Kai, and in front of a glaring Damon, with the bat in his grip. Bonnie trailed back into the room slowly, with a watchful gaze. Skye recalled Kai telling her long ago about other supernatural creatures - once she was finally able to coax the real story of what happened that night out of him- ones that could move at such speeds that Damon had just demonstrated. He was a vampire.

"Who is she and why did she have a bat?" Damon had directed his question at Kai, while twirling the bat around in a circular motion, like a baseball player on deck.

"The bat was for protection against him," Skye said, indicating Kai with a flick of her head. "Not to hurt you guys."

But Damon ignored her. "Again I ask, who is she?"

Kai just smirked, and slouched down in his chair. "Bonnie and Damon, meet Skyler, my girlfriend."

"It's Skye," Skye interjected, then she scowled at Kai. "And I believe the correct term is ex-girlfriend."

Damon simply watched their interaction, then turned sideways to shoot Bonnie a look. "Skye and Kai? Cute," he remarked, turning back and wrinkling his nose.

This continued well into the night, Damon trying and failing to pry viable information out of them. Kai was the king of rambling, and she was his silent queen, partly because she couldn't get in a word edgewise, but mostly because she knew Kai was circumventing the truth for a reason. She didn't want to cross him, or interfere with his plan. She was certain he had one. Even when he was tied up, the asshole still had the upper hand. She just hoped it also worked in her favor, despite wanting Damon and Bonnie to like her. Skye noticed Damon's hand twitching towards the bat every now and again, but figured he only refrained from torture because of Bonnie's presence. When Damon would directly address her (usually in the moments Kai would pause to take a breathe), she would simply answer, with no small amount of internalized guilt, that Kai told the story better.

"Oh my god, just answer the damn question." Damon's snap brought her back to the present. "How are we gonna get out of this Twilight Zone?"

"I have a question for you first," Kai retorted, while Damon slammed his hand down against his arm rest in frustration. "Why do you think we're stuck on a repeating loop of May 10th, 1994? Doomed to relive a solar eclipse forever and ever and ever."

"How the hell should I know?" Damon raised his glass of bourbon to his lips and took a sip. "What about her?" he said, tipping the glass in Skye's direction. "Does she know? Bet she wouldn't tell me if she did." Skye stayed silent predictably and Kai ignored him, in favor of being nosy.

"Well, actually, I heard you tell Bonnie this place was your own personal hell. I'm kinda curious why," Kai said. Skye was curious, too, but they were interrupted by the arrival of Bonnie, back from her retrieval trip at Kai's request.

"Okay, I got everything you asked for. Can opener, shower drain, grinding wheel, jam, pocket knife, volume 'O' of the encyclopedia, a nail, and a black marker," she listed, as poured the contents of the bag onto a coffee table, and Kai sat up straighter in his seat, visibly more excited. Skye grew tenser, not sure what Kai was up to.

"Now what?" Bonnie questioned.

"Can't show with my hands taped," Kai replied. Bonnie picked up the pocket knife and started towards him.

"Bonnie," Damon protested. Bonnie ignored him.

"Thank you," Kai said exaggeratingly. She freed Kai, and then stepped over to Skye, cutting off her tape with a quick motion. "Thanks," Skye muttered to Bonnie.

"Okay, fine," Damon conceded, while Kai stretched out his hand. Skye stood, the cramps in her legs were fierce and she stretched too. She stepped around Bonnie and Kai, headed straight for Damon's elaborate set up of alcohol on the table behind the couch. "Yay, alcohol," she sighed happily. She glanced up at Damon, who had been watching her movements with a distrustful eye and a curled lip. "May I?" she asked, touching the lid of the crystal decanter.

He stared at her with the same expression for a moment longer, then said flatly, "Knock yourself out."

She poured the amber liquid into a tumbler, and sipped with her eyes closed, glad to feel the burn as the liquor slid down her throat.

"You'll have to excuse Skyler, she's a bit of a lush," Kai explained, with a hint of humor in his voice. He gazed at Skye, a smirk present on his lips.

"Don't care," Damon responded. "Now, how's this pile of crap going to get us out of here?"

Eyes still on Skye, while rubbing his wrists, Kai answered, "I explain as soon as you tell me what you did on May 10th, 1994."

"What difference does it make?" Damon exclaimed.

"We'll put it this way," Kai said. Gesturing to Bonnie, he continued: "Bonnie's magic is one part of the equation. My as yet undisclosed knowledge is the other, which means you'd be hitching a ride home for free. I just wanna know if you deserve to come along." All Skye heard was the phrase 'Bonnie's magic', so Bonnie was a witch-this meant a lot to her; it meant her freedom from this unnatural place, and she could finally see why Kai was reluctant to explain the story about how they'd come to be trapped here.

"What about her?" Damon exploded, fanning his arms back to Skye. She came back to attention. "Where does she factor into the equation? What does she bring to the table? Besides creepy silence."

"She's got a great rack," Kai shrugged, sending Skye a wink.

Damon turned in his ire, to examine her chest. He pulled back his head, and his mouth turned down at the corners: the universal expression for "meh, not bad." Bonnie just stood still next to Kai, looked disgusted.

Skye folded her arms over her chest, and took a long drag of bourbon. "You're both dicks."

But Damon had moved on, pulling the pocket knife from Bonnie's grasp, he gripped Kai by the collar and pulled him up from the chair with the blade to his throat. "Or, you know, I could just torture you until you say something useful."

"If you torture me, I'll get mad," Kai said, acting as if he was speaking to a child. "And then I won't wanna help you." Turning to Bonnie, he asked, "What kind of person needs to have that explained to them?"

Bonnie grabbed the knife from Damon grip, and Damon released Kai unceremoniously. Kai chuckled, then looked up towards Skye, who had been watching the whole exchange with some trepidation. He pointed to Damon's back, and grinned. He was wordlessly saying, "Can you believe this guy?" Skye just gave him a fake smile, not really sharing his amusement.

Kai proceeded to the couch and sat - this meant that his back was to Skye. She moved around the corner of the couch, and sat herself on the opposite end. Kai made no notice of her movement, as occupied as he was opening the jam jar and giving all his attention to the witch and the vampire .

Meanwhile, Bonnie chastised Damon through gritted teeth, "Play nice."

"Stop trying to impress the new guy."

"Why don't you just tell him your story?" Bonnie reasoned.

"Maybe 'cause I don't wanna talk about the worse thing I ever did, Bonnie."

"Ooh," Kai burst out, "Now, I'm listening." He dipped his hand into the jam and shoved the squishy substance into his mouth in the most disgusting, unforgiving fashion. Skye almost gagged aloud.

Kai was stretched out on the couch now, head on Skye's lap, fiddling with a can opener and the lid to the jam jar. Skye had tried several times to shove his head off her lap, but he would just persistently resume the same position, unperturbed. Eventually she gave up, and just sat, tense and bored, fighting the impulse to pour her drink over his head. She wished she was on the opposite end of the couch, and that Kai was wearing shorts-then she could've played odds and evens with his leg hairs to entertain herself.

Damon and Bonnie were still in the same spot; Bonnie was repeatedly trying to persuade Damon to cooperate while Damon held his fingers to the bridge of his nose in annoyance.

"I need to be entertained while I work," Kai chimed out. "Hell story, please."

"Remind me not to kill him," Damon said to Bonnie.

"Maybe telling him your story will take your mind off it," she replied.

"Whose side are you on?" Skye laughed to herself at his tone.

"The one where we get to go home to the people we love," Bonnie said earnestly.

"Humor him," Skye suggested. "It's the only way he'll shut up." She refused to look down at said he as she made the statement, instead volunteering to drain her cup.

"She's not wrong," Kai agreed, absentmindedly. He ran the can opener around the lid once again.

"Fine," Damon started. "In May 1994, I was living here. I'd come home to walk the straight and narrow…"

He launched into his story - Skye paid rapt attention. Apparently, the vampire had a brother named Stefan intent on redeeming him of his liberal vampire nature. Damon had come home to live with Stefan, and their descendant Zack in their ancestral home, the Boarding House -the almost mansion their little ragtag group was lounging in currently. Apparently, Zack also had a pregnant girlfriend, who constantly craved blueberries pancakes; Damon relayed this information very matter-of-factly, but the thought of the pregnant women made Skye uncomfortable. She could guess where the story was probably headed; she had a degree in literature after all and story-telling was all about what her creative writing professor called "relevant details."

Kai, however, not paying the same amount of attention to Damon, started snoring softly.

Damon stopped his story, observing Kai. "Perfect, our savior's insane and narcoleptic."

"Just insane," Skye said. Kai's eyes snapped open at her remark; they held a warning. She made a sarcastic face back at him in answer, unfazed. He held her gaze briefly, fire in his eyes, before turning his head to Damon. "No, no, no, Damon. I'm awake. Let me guess, you killed the pregnant woman."

"Shut up, Kai. You weren't listening."

"I was listening, in my sleep," Kai contended. Finally, he sat up, and Skye relaxed. "You were hanging out with your distant nephew Zack, who you called Uncle Zack, because that's not confusing. Plus, pregnant lady Gail, who had a big bulls-eye on her chest. Got it."

"Tell me you didn't kill a pregnant women," Bonnie said to Damon. Skye could now pin her as naive.

"Oh, that's totally what happened," Kai said, now hunched slightly, messing with the other items on the table. "Why else would today be his personal hell?" Skye found it odd that Kai could sense and understand the implied remorse of the situation when he felt none himself, but she said nothing.

Instead, she watched as Damon menacingly approached the table, knelt down at the edge and set his tumbler of bourbon down.

"Oh, here we go," Kai muttered.

"The only reason you're alive right now is because I thought you could get us out of here and you could help us," Damon started, his rage steadily showing itself with each word. "But you don't have any answers." Grabbing the abandoned jam jar, he threw it down with force and it sailed to the other side of the table. "You're just a man-child with jam on his fingers."

Skye couldn't help but let out a snort at his insult. Damon glanced at her for a second while Kai turned back and glared. Bonnie, however, kept her worried gaze on the the two men, the tension thick between them. After a moment, Damon and Kai resumed their intense staring match. Skye could practically smell the testosterone. "Okay," Kai finally said. "To get home, we'll harness the power of the eclipse, using a mystical relic. It's called an Ascendant." He held up the contraption he'd composed of all the weird items. "And it looks like this, Damon." Damon stared. Skye figured it would be fair to call him dumbfounded, like he couldn't believe there might be a method to Kai's madness.

Kai went on, "Last time we had it was in the Pacific Northwest. Oregon." He opened the encyclopedia to the map, and set it down on the table.

"We?" Bonnie queried, taking a step closer.

"It belonged to my family." Skye's stomach clenched at the mention of Kai's family. "So here's a little blood to get you started." Grabbing the pocket knife, Kai seemed to glance at her furtively before he slashed his middle finger open. "Now all we need is a locator spell to pinpoint its whereabouts." He stood, smug. Skye was confused, but she maintained a neutral expression. She knew that Kai already had the Ascendant on him; he had retrieved it the first year they were here and he'd had kept it ever since. She didn't understand why he was performing this particular charade.

Damon had stood too and now leaned towards Bonnie, "Think you can find our ticket out of here, Bon Bon?" he asked.

"Hell yeah," she answered confidently. Skye was still tense, but she let a little bit of hope blossomed in her at Bonnie's promise.

The party of four had moved on in their day, to the next order of business, which involved a magical LoJack on Kai's "mystical relic." Kai and Bonnie were in the dining room, the encyclopedia laid open on the table, with a crimson drop resting in the corner of the map, and lit candles surrounded the lay out.

Bonnie chanted, "Phasmatos Tribum Nas Ex Veras Sequita Saguines... " Kai stood to the side, behind an ornate, plush dining chair, closely observing Bonnie's movements.

Damon strolled to the bar, in the other, opened room, and Skye was hot on his tail. Laying down the newspaper on the table, he quickly filled his own glass.

"It doesn't feel right, I -" Bonnie said, putting a hold on her magic chant. "Maybe, I need a bigger map."

"Maybe, you're just out of practice, and you suck at magic now," Damon countered.

Skye held out her empty glass expectantly, and Damon kindly refilled it.

"Ignore him, Bonnie," Kai suggested. "Pretend he's a white noise machine." This statement was said a little more loudly, and in Damon's direction.

"Funny Kai, that's how I tune you out," Skye quipped, before taking a long drag.

Damon smirked at her in approval. "You know, this might be the bourbon talking, but I'm actually starting to like you. Because you hate him and you know how to hold your liquor." Skye just smiled back, genuinely, for the first time in what felt like ages.

Unbeknownst to the pair, Kai had his jaw clenched and his lethal gaze fixed upon them. Turning to Bonnie, he said, "That's how I used to tune out my siblings." He started around the table to her side. "I grew up with a ton of little sisters and brothers. You know, all of them constantly yammering. But it taught me how to focus." He had his hand on the table now, leaning closer to Bonnie, his face a few inches from her. Their gazes locked. Damon was still in his spot, watching Kai critically. Skye just kept sipping her bourbon, her stomach churning at Kai's continued talk of his siblings, not caring for one minute about Kai's flirting with the witch she was so focused on his words.

"Easy there, big brother," Damon chastised, and Kai and Bonnie whipped their heads around to him. "She doesn't know you. At least, buy her a drink." Draining his glass, Damon walked off in the direction of the foyer.

Skye set her empty glass down next to his, and decided to lay off of it for awhile since her head felt like it was on fire and she was getting woozy, starting to see double. And two Kais are definitely scarier than one, she thought. She approached the dining table; Bonnie had switched out the encyclopedia for a bigger map, this one showing the whole of the U.S., and Kai was now standing on Bonnie's other side, but giving her some distance to do her magic. Bonnie barely glanced up at Skye's approach, but Kai did. His eyes held the same warning from earlier, and as tempted as she was to blurt out to Bonnie that Kai was playing her, she also didn't want to get strangled later. She couldn't permanently die from it, but that didn't mean it didn't cause excruciating pain.

Bonnie began chanting again, "Phasmatos Tribum Nas Ex Veras Sequita Saguines…" and Damon reentered the room as the blood on the map steadily moved southwest from Oregon.

"The blood's moving towards Virginia, that can't be right." Kai was convincing in his pretend disbelief, but Bonnie surprised Skye when she said in reply, "Nu-uh. The spell's working. It's showing me Mystic Falls. It feels so-" Turning toward him, she stepped closer until her hand was on his jacket. "-close," she finished, and the lit candles' flames shoot into the air wildly for a moment, as if almost affected by a strong wind. "It's right here," she said firmly, pressing her hand against his breast pocket. The candles went out. Kai looked down, and reached his hand into his jacket while Bonnie regarded him with narrowed eyes.

"Oh, very good," he said wistfully, glancing at Damon for a second before returning back to Bonnie. In his hand was the ugly metal contraption, with its sharp edges and cogs and wheels; Skye had always thought it an appropriate prison key.

"That's the Ascendant?" Bonnie asked.

"The one and only," Kai replied, with a manic smirk.

"Thanks for the mind games, jackass," Damon said flatly, his arms crossed.

"It was just another little test," Kai explained, nonchalantly. "To make sure Bonnie's magic was precise enough for the spell." All three of his companions glared at him.

"I do believe you're ready." he added. "Pack your bags, we're going home." Kai's excitement was contained, but Damon's was shown through the eyebrow wiggle and smirk he threw Bonnie's way. She smiled back. Skye watched Kai, whose gaze kept finding its way back to Bonnie, and she was scared for her new friends, not excited.

Kai rushed out of the room the next second, with the Ascendant in hand. Leaving the front door open, he wandered onto the lawn. Damon and Bonnie looked at Skye for an explanation, but she shrugged and started after him. Damon and Bonnie followed her out to the lawn, but never came in line with her as she moved to closer to Kai.

"You're wandering around like a crazy man why?" Damon asked, as they all observed Kai, who had the Ascendant lifted to the sky. With one eye closed, he was peering through a little hole in one of the device's many parts.

"I'm looking for the exact right spot," he informed, moving a few feet further to the left. "We need to find where the power of the eclipse is focused."

"You know, you could've just shown us the Ascendant to begin with," Bonnie said.

"Yeah, but I wanted to feel your hand on my chest," Kai said. Skye rolled her eyes.

"There's something not right about him," Bonnie muttered to Damon. Skye was glad to see Bonnie's bullshit detector was in good, working order. If only Skye's had been twenty years ago. Maybe, she could warn...no, she shouldn't. She didn't want to jeopardize her chance to return home, the first real, very tangible hope that presented itself as Bonnie's magic. Eyeing Kai's back, though, she realized that Damon and Bonnie, even if they found him a little weird, had no clue what Kai was capable of, and that wasn't right to her, not when they were willingly helping.

Distantly, she heard Damon as he said, "You're just not used to guys hitting on ya."

She spotted a copy of the newspaper on the lawn, crinkled irregularly; she was pretty sure Damon had been making paper airplanes with it earlier and flying them in the yard. It's headline read out in big black block letters, "Family Massacred in Portland." How convenient. Finally, Skye made her decision.

"You know, I can't wait to get out here-" Bonnie said, still in conversation with Damon. "- and talk to somebody else." Stepping over the paper, Skye kicked it behind her, then pointed down behind her back. She hoped Bonnie had caught her actions because she refused to look back and instead focused on following Kai, who was still absorbed in Ascendant alignment and appeared completely oblivious thankfully.

She heard Damon, again, "Can I just have a few lasting seconds of peace while this idiot uses that thing to get the stars to align…." and Bonnie didn't reply. Chancing a small glance back, Skye saw Bonnie with the newspaper in her hand, reading inquisitively while Damon moved past her. Bonnie glanced up, right at her, but Skye quickly turned away.

The group meandered their way across the lawn and up the driveway, staggered with Kai in the lead, Skye not far behind him, and Bonnie and Damon bringing up the rear. Bonnie was still reading while Damon asked, "What's up with the nature walk?"

"I used the Ascendant to figure out where we need to be standing during the eclipse," Kai said.

"Great, let's do some magic, and get the hell out of here."

"Oregon," Bonnie murmured to Damon. Skye knew she wasn't speaking lowly enough though, because even she, just a half-step behind Kai, could hear her.

"What?"

"I've read this paper like a thousand times. There's something in it about Oregon."

"What about it?" Both paused in their strides.

"You know Kai said he had all those brothers and sisters," Bonnie said. Damon mmm-hmmed in response, both closely watching Kai while Skye stood to the side. " 'Family Massacred in Portland,' " she read the headline aloud, and Damon grabbed the corner of the paper and turned it towards him. Kai stopped and raised the Ascendant again, and just observing his profile told Skye he was biding his time for the perfect dramatic reveal. Bonnie continued: "The only one missing was the oldest boy, a twenty-two year old named Malachai."

"Who names a kid Malachai?" Kai turned towards them, capitalizing on his moment. "It's like they expected me to be evil."

"All these kids were murdered," Bonnie said, her voice tittering on disbelief. Almost like she couldn't believe he would joke and act so casually about the situation. Oh, but he would, Skye thought.

His next words were the indication of that. "Hello, not everyone died." Coming closer to Bonnie and Damon, he brushed against Skye's shoulder. She suppressed a shudder. "I had a soft spot for one of my sisters. 'Cause otherwise I would've cut her lungs out and not just her spleen."

Josette, Skye remembered. Kai's twin. The girl who had welcomed her with a hug upon her arrival. She had graduated with a pre-medical degree a few days before, like Kai.

"What?" Bonnie was at a loss, still incredulous at Kai's glibness.

"You can survive without a spleen," Kai burst out, his smile wide but cold.

"Something tells me you're not speaking hypothetically," Damon said.

Kai shifted to Bonnie's side and pointed at the youth's pictures in the paper. "Well, these two I hung off the stairwell railing - " He wasn't even hiding his nostalgic glee. His brother's and sister's names appeared instantaneously in Skye's mind. Isaac, age 8; with dark hair and blue-gray eyes not unlike his brother, he had been reading comic books all day, and debating the pros and cons of superheroes with her. Nicoletta, age 13, skinny, she had told Skye her hair was pretty and asked how she got it to lay like that? " - then I put a hunting knife in her abdomen." 16 year old, bespectacled Eva had hardly paid attention to Skye, because she had her nose buried in a book. "And him I drowned in the pool," Kai finished. Blond and eleven, Joseph had been begging Kai all day to play Nintendo with him. "But he kept fighting me, and I was like, "I saved you for last, you ungrateful, little…" Kai trailed off, lost in the memory. "Anyway, that was that." He walked back to his former spot.

"You just killed your whole family?" Bonnie asked, weakly.

"Coven to be precise. Oh, you know, a family of witches," Kai clarified.

"You're making her jump through hoops and you're a witch?" Damon asked. To Skye, he seemed less perturbed about Kai's homicidal behavior, but then again he was a vampire. And from the sound of that story earlier in the day, probably not a very conservative one.

"Sort of, yeah," Kai nodded. "No powers, obviously. Ah, and of course, the Gemini coven did not take it too well when they heard what I did in Portland. That's why they banished me here."

"This place is a prison," Bonnie told Damon. "They created it for you." The last part was directed at Kai.

"Yep. This isn't your hell, Damon. It's mine."

"And mine," Skye interjected. Both Bonnie and Damon heads whipped over to her, like they had forgotten she was there.

"You." Damon pointed at her. "I'm taking your lack of surprise to mean you actually knew about this."

" 'Knew about this,' " Bonnie repeated, ignoring Skye's widen eyes and slight head shake which desperately asked her to stop talking. "She's the one that practically handed me the paper."

Kai set his gaze on Skye meditatively, "Hmm, interesting," he murmured. Skye wondered how he was going to torture her this time, especially with Bonnie and Damon around. Probably pretty easily, her brain countered. After this, they would probably label her as a sociopath and didn't care what would happen to her.

She couldn't give too much thought to it before Bonnie turned away, and headed quickly to the front door.

"Whoa, where are you going?" Damon called after her, and started to follow. "We've got an eclipse to jump through, or whatever."

Kai stayed behind for a full minute, with a rigid stance, and indifferent expression, trying to unnerve Skye. But she just crossed her arms defensively and glowered. She refused to go in front of him. And growing bored, he finally took off after the others, his long legs carrying him swiftly.

Finally making her way across the yard, she caught Damon's and Bonnie's argument as it drifted through the open door Kai lingered in. "We're not letting Kai out of here. Okay? He just said he was a serial killer." Technically, thought Skye, he's a mass murder, but semantics, whatever.

"I don't care. I wanna get out of here."

"How can you not care? Maybe because of all the horrible things you've done? Maybe because killing a bunch of kids is not a big deal to someone who's murdered a pregnant woman? Am I wrong?" Damon didn't respond. Moving to the doorway herself, as Kai moved further into the foyer, Skye saw that Damon had walked away. He had gone to the bar again, poured a drink, and resumed his story from earlier, about why this day had a special significance to him.

Apparently, he had too liberal with his blood drinking which forced his brother to lock him in a dark shed with no daylight ring. To get back at Stefan, when the eclipse hit, he had stole across the yard in the shade it provided, drained every boarder, and threatened Zack's pregnant girlfriend right to Stefan's and Zack's faces. Overcome with rage, he had bit and drained Gail. As he told the story, though, Skye could see a difference between him and Kai. While they both had mass-murdered, Damon told his story with a edge of regret clear in his voice while Kai's had held nothing but nonchalance.

"Ouch, poor Nephew/Uncle Zack," Kai quipped when Damon paused. Bonnie appeared still and small from Skye's vantage point.

Damon set his glass down with a thunk and glared at Kai. "Stefan compelled Uncle Zack to forget about the girlfriend and the baby. But he couldn't cover up all those murders." He moved back to the foyer. "The Founder's council was restarted, and Stefan took off. Left Mystic Falls for about fifteen years. We both did."

Looking Bonnie straight in the eyes intensely, Damon reached his point. "And when I saw Uncle Zack again, I couldn't look at him without remembering I had ruined everything. So it was a nice relief when I got to kill him." Bonnie's shoulders were heaving, but Damon went on. "Okay, can we go back now?"

"Oh, come on, Bonnie," Kai added. "You wanna go home to your friends." Holding out his arm towards Skye, he said, "Skye wants to go back home to her family, believe me, it's all she whines about. I don't know the feeling because I just wanna go back and give the rest of the Gemini Coven an excruciating death. Win wins, all around."

Bonnie backed away from him during the speech, but now Damon was invading her newly found space, lowly speaking. "Look, I know this guy's not a model citizen or whether the girl is, okay, Bonnie? But I gonna get back, not just for Elena, but for my brother."

"I'm sorry, Damon," she said with regret.

"Sorry doesn't work for me," Kai said, as he started forward and reached out towards Bonnie. In the next moment, he was pinned to the wall by Damon.

"We might be having a little bit of a disagreement, but ever lay a hand on her," he threatened.

"Kind of a non-issue now," said Kai, as he turned his head to the look at the outside through the open door. "Missed today's eclipse. Rain-check for tomorrow?"

"No," Bonnie said lightly as she moved out the door, brushing past Skye. Skye immediately set off after her.


	3. Trouble Seemed So Far Away

Continued during 6x04, "Black Hole Sun"

, _When you lived inside of me_

_There was nothing I could conceive_

_That you wouldn't do for me_

_Trouble seemed so far away_

_You changed that right away, baby_

_Love don't live here anymore_

_Just emptiness and memories_

_Of what we had before_

_Love don't live here anymore_

_And if you break my heart_

_Then blood gonna spill here_

_Just a vacancy_

_Cross my heart_

_And hope to die_

_See you with your laughter lines_

_I'll see you there_

"Love Don't Live Here" by Bastille

December 24, 1993

"Slow down, please," Skye requested. Kai ignored her. Usually, Skye would not let Kai drive her anywhere because he was a reckless maniac behind the wheel - taking sharp turns, speeding, hard braking. She wondered sometimes if his driver's license was legitimate.

Today was a little different, although he was still speeding a little, he seemed distracted and was being uncharacteristically quiet.

It had begun to snow on Interstate-5, and they were headed home for Christmas. But Kai was dropping her off in Salem at her mom's house while he went to his family's house in Portland. Skye was a little put out by the arrangement, having requesting to meet his parents and numerous siblings since the previous summer.

"I still don't get why I can't meet them," she said, deciding to kill the tense silence and resume their argument from earlier.

"Skye," Kai warned, tired of the conversation.

"Kai," she said back.

"I told you, my parents are paranoid freaks. They don't like people coming into the house. They especially wouldn't like anyone I associate with."

Skye rolled her eyes; she still didn't believe that his parents disliked him, though Kai insisted on it. "Like I've said, you've met my family. It's only fair." Her family was enamored with him. Her mom had bragged to her middle-aged friends about how "charming" he was. Skye was pretty sure her sister, Anya, had a crush on him since Kai had become instant friends with Anya's two-year-old son, Anthony. They had played with toy trucks and cars on the hardwood floor; he made explosion sounds whenever Anthony rammed them into walls, causing Anthony to giggle.

"Besides," Skye continued while Kai's glowered at the windshield. "You haven't ever asked them. Can you at least ask them some time within the next three days?" He didn't answer, only clenched his jaw, and glanced at the rear-view mirror.

Skye leaned across the console, her face close to his shoulder. "Please," she pouted.

"I swear, if you start batting your eyelashes, I'm driving this car off the road," he said with force, though a small caustic laugh had broke through.

Skye smiled, pulling back. "If you ask and they say no, that's fine. I will stop asking," she promised.

"Fine, I'll ask. Just don't whine about it to me when they say no."

They drove another forty five minutes before Kai finally pulled up in front of Skye's house. She pulled her duffel bag from the back seat and turned towards Kai expectantly.

"Are you gonna come in and say hi?"

"No, I wanna get home before the snow gets worse," he replied. Leaning forward and reaching out his hand, he grabbed her face and planted a brief kiss on her lips.

After he pulled back, she opened the car door and said, "Be careful."

Skye stepped out of the car and Kai drove off. "Bye, Kai, love you too," she muttered to the snow swirled open air.

December 26, 1993

The day after Christmas was almost better than Christmas Day itself for Skye. Firstly, you didn't have to cook a meal, you could eat the copious leftovers from the day before. You now had new stuff to play with, like Anthony was playing with his new train set on the floor. Not to mention new pajama outfits that you could wear as your clothes for the day. They were still showing Christmas movies on television, and no traditions to perform, so basically nothing at all to do. That's why Skye was stretched out on the couch this evening and had been most of the day while her mom and sister did the same, though in a recliner and love-seat respectively.

They were watching Home Alone, and it just gotten to the "Keep the change, ya filthy animal," part when three sharp taps sounded at the door.

All three women were startled, but Skye's mom started up from her seat first, "Were you girls expecting anyone?" she asked, while proceeding to the foyer. Anthony stood, his curly head wild, and followed his grandma, curious.

"No," Anya answered, standing up to go after Anthony who had now veered off down the hallway.

"Nope," Skye yawned. She remained in her position; the person was probably for Anya anyway.

However, she sat up a moment later, after she heard the door open and her mom exclaim, "Kai! Come in, come in. You must be freezing."

Skye shot up, and into the foyer, her confusion showing on her face. It was Kai, he was talking to her mother and unwrapping his wool scarf from around his neck. "Sorry to intrude. I wasn't supposed to come until tomorrow…" he trailed off and smirked when he spotted her. "Hi, babe."

"Hi," she said slowly, still confused.

Skye's mom gave a disapproving look. "Skye, go get him some hot chocolate. Make some for the rest of us too."

"Yeah, please make us some hot chocolate, Aunt Skye," Anya said, reappearing again at Skye's elbow with her son on her hip.

Anthony looked towards Skye, "Pwease, Aunt Skye."

She smiled at him, but then looked towards Kai, who had already nodded at her sister, and grinned at Anthony.

"Can I greet my boyfriend first, mother?" she asked acerbically.

Kai grinned at her tone, but her mother waved her hands in the direction of the kitchen and touched Kai's arm, leading him into the living room, Anya following with Anthony.

A little nonplussed, she went into the kitchen and grabbed four mugs and the jug of milk out of the fridge before setting them down on the counter next to the microwave. Going to the pantry to get the chocolate powder canister, she thought about Kai's arrival and became anxious. Why would he show up a day early? She hoped nothing happened while he was at home, knowing his temperament and his regard for his parents.

Setting the canister down, she filled the mugs with milk and set them in the microwave, turning the dial to 3 minutes. She leaned against the counter, her back to the door. When the timer dinged, she pulled the mugs out, poured the powder in one, and stirred. She didn't hear or feel the presence in the room with her until hands landed on her hips, and a kiss was pressed to her jawline. She jumped, causing some brown liquid to spill out on the counter. Luckily, she wasn't burnt.

"Jeez, Kai, are you part feline predator or something? Who doesn't make sounds when they move?"

His smile was almost predatory, she observed as she turned to face him. He chuckled, "Just carrying on our meet cute tradition."

"Well, stop it," she said. "How did you escape my mom's clutches anyway?"

"Just told her I wanted to come help you," he answered, dipping his finger in the mug she had been preparing. He licked the hot chocolate off in one smooth motion with his tongue.

"Guess that yours now," she said, handing it to him.

He took it from her grasp and drank while she continued fixing the other mugs. "So why did you leave home early?" she asked.

"I had a fight with my parents. Guess what over?" he said the last part with an overly bright voice.

"Oh, shit, Kai. I'm sorry," she said, turning and grabbing his free hand with both of her's. She brought it up to her face, and kissed his palm in deference and apology. She should've listened to him earlier about his parents. He did know them better after all.

"It's okay," he shrugged, and pulled his hand out of her grasp. She was a little hurt that he broke the contact so quickly, but she had to remind herself that he wasn't the most emotive when it came to his parents. Setting his mug down, he moved in away from her and to the fridge. "It's okay because they agreed. Do you guys have any food?"

"No, we subsist on air and the - wait, did you say they agreed?"

Giving her an unamused look, Kai took a pan from the fridge. He lifted the foil from the top to take a peak. "Yes, they finally agreed, but only after Jo spoke up, of course. 'Oh, I'd love to meet her. We can paint each other's nails and braid each other's hair. Trade period stories and talk about boys,'" he imitated, in a full falsetto. "Ooh, is this that cheesy potato stuff you make at home?"

"I didn't make it, but my mother did so it's probably better," she answered absently. She was still concerned with the other parts of his speech, otherwise she might have laughed at his antics. His parents had agreed, and his sister wanted to meet her; she was filled with equal parts apprehension and excitement. "Did they say when?"

"They said to come to the house the day after graduation," he said, before he sat the pan down, and pointed with separate hands at the two drawers on either side of her.

Skye pulled open the drawer next to her and retrieved a fork. "But that's still a whole semester away," she complained, handing him the fork.

He shoved some potatoes in his mouth, and groaned. Swallowing, he shrugged. "I've said it and I'll say it again: they're whackadoodles."

"Won't I technically meet them at graduation?"

"Nope," he said, popping the 'p.' Taking another bite, Kai explained, "They're not coming to mine. Jo's is on the same day, like two hours before."

Skye was floored for a second, thinking she didn't hear him right. "But one of them will come to yours, right?"

He took another bite, and kept his face down. "No," he said, his tone impassive.

"Kai…" she sighed softly, at a loss for words.

The hot chocolate continued to sit, abandoned and ruined, on the counter.

**************

Bonnie walked until she reached a tree on the fringe on the property, leaned against it, and breathed out heavily. Skye waited patiently, being trapped in a prison world with two murderers was heavy stuff and she could understand the need for a break, especially after hearing two incredibly detailed accounts of the actual criminal deeds themselves.

"What do you want?" Bonnie finally snapped.

"Well, first, I want to know if you're okay," Skye replied.

"I'm fine," she huffed.

"You sure sound like it," Skye retorted.

Bonnie's face grew sour, "Look, I'm not interested in being your friend. So, if you think acting concerned is going to get you anywhere with me, you can save it. We're staying here."

"It's not an act," Skye protested. "And as much as I'd like to get out of here, I understand why you're doing it. Kai's clinically certified, he deserves to be here. I, however, do not and neither do you or Damon."

Bonnie scoffed, "Sure you don't. Don't think I don't know about you either."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"The paper said something about an accomplice, a girl, who also went missing. It said she was his girlfriend and that her name was Skyler Lambert. It said she was believed to have rounded up and kept track of all the kids so they wouldn't get away."

Skye was silent and went really still for a moment. When she next spoke, she did it so slowly, intently, and vehemently that Bonnie was startled, "I. did. not. help. him."

Bonnie paused; Skye had looked right into her eyes with every word. Skye wasn't lying, but Bonnie wasn't deterred. "But you didn't stop him, either, did you?"

"He held a knife to my throat, and threatened my family, Bonnie," Skye explained, a lump in her throat. "He locked me outside. I listened to their screams and his taunts. And all I could do, after I moved past my extreme shock, was puke in the bushes, but I never helped him."

Bonnie grimaced, and her eyes held a sympathetic sheen at Skye's words and at the hysteria and guilt strong in Skye's voice, but then her gaze shifted to something over Skye's shoulder, and her features became steely.

"Yep, she was so lazy," Kai's voice interrupted. "Besides, I don't mind taking all the credit for such a stunning masterpiece of fratricide and sororicide." He came to a stop on Skye's right; Bonnie instantly darted around Skye's left and headed back into the house.

"Damn it, Kai," Skye grounded out in frustration, turning to face him. She had barely turned around before he was already pushing her back, his large and insistent hand right on her chest, over her heart, into the tree. He gripped her throat with one hand, though not hard, just to keep her in place, the other was placed on her shoulder. His body leaned into her, and his warm breath fanned her cheeks. Before the prison world, and to be honest, before the arrival of Bonnie and Damon in the prison world, this type of interaction with Kai might've caused different kinds of emotions to surface within Sky, but right then all she felt was resigned, weak, revolted.

However weak she felt, she was determined not to show it and met his dark eyes and deep frown resolutely. "You know, as much time as you spend getting in other people's faces, you should really invest in a box of Tic Tacs, Mal."

In reply, he simply tightened his grip. He wasn't crushing her windpipe, but it wasn't comfortable either. He could definitely feel every swallow she took, and it reminded her just how fragile her neck was.

Skye brought her hands up to his in an effort to drag them away from her neck, but the attempt was futile and only served to entertain Kai. At least for a moment, before his face grew falsely serious and he said, "It seems we need to have a discussion about narcing and just how uncool it is."

"They had a right to know who they were dealing with," she insisted, her hands unconsciously latched on his wrist.

"You regular people and your moral dilemmas. 'Oh, should I tell two complete strangers, whom I owe nothing, that my boyfriend is a little bit of a psycho? Or stay loyal to him and trust that he's doing his utmost best to break us out of the magical prison world?' Seems like a pretty clear choice to me," he said calmly. Although, there was an edge to his tone that almost sounded hurt, but like with all things concerning Kai, she couldn't trust it or believe it as it was probably a pretense. The boy was practically a caricature of himself - he could appear "normal," but there was something exaggerated about the facade. He only truly showed himself when basking in his sociopathic nature.

Besides, there were some many issues with his statement that she didn't even know where to start so she gaped like a fish before she repeated incredulously, " 'A little bit of a psycho?' You're a full blown sociopath, Kai."

"Oh my god," he burst out, "I know, you've told me as much 50, 000 times. Pick a new record, please, preferably one that's less repetitive."

"You're also not my boyfriend," she reminded. He rolled his eyes, again with the broken record.

"We have actually never broken up, officially, so technically I still am."

"Ahh, I would say the first time you murdered me was the official moment. Or probably that night you murdered four children," Skye said. "Also, I don't understand why you insist on still classifying yourself as such when you literally couldn't care less about me."

"Oh, I wouldn't say that," Kai smiled creepily, pushing a strand of her hair off her face and behind her ear. He leaned forward even more, to where his face wasn't visible; she waited tense and impatient. She didn't know what to expect, and was surprised to feel his lips brush over her cheekbone, softly...tenderly.

"What are you going to do?" Her voice was breathy and cautious, and she wasn't sure what she was asking - whether she meant in the general future, in dealing with Bonnie's refusal, or the future of this one little moment, as his lips had steadily made their descent down the plane of her cheek towards the corner of her mouth. But he retreated a moment later.

"Well, Plan A, you know the whole kill 'em with my undeniable charm, has to be abandoned, no thanks to you. I guess that leaves my Plan B," Kai said. Bringing his hands back down, he circled her neck. His grin was more manic, now. "Don't worry, it's good! Granted it's messier, but it's also my personal favorite because it entails the most fun method." Leaning forward again, this time until they were cheek to cheek, his prickly and hers smooth, he whispered the answer to her unasked question into her ear. "Force."

With that, he squeezed so hard, black dots popped into her vision, and she sagged and clawed. He let her fall to the ground, after a full minute of choking. She instantly started hacking, a torrent of coughs that would last the whole time he was talking. "I tried to take the easy route, but you sabotaged it. Whatever may or may not happen, like rolling vampire heads and ding-dong dead witches, is all on you, babe."

Kai stalked off into the forest, whistling, while Skye waited desperately to regain her breath and vision.

Later, after night had fallen, Kai was still M.I.A, and Skye had procured a scarf from the attic bedroom to hide the damage he caused, purple blemishes in the shapes of his fingers and his hands. She didn't know why she was, but she figured she didn't want Damon and Bonnie to see them, not for Kai's sake, but for her own sanity. She didn't want to seem weak in front of them.

With hunger pains in her stomach, she made her way into the Salvatore's kitchen, hoping to score some food unnoticed. But Bonnie was there at Mission dining table, eating pancakes, in the glow of a fire from an ornate old fashioned fireplace.

Skye immediately apologized for disturbing her and was halfway through the doorway, when Bonnie called, "Wait!"

She turned, and Bonnie gestured to the seat across from her. "Go ahead, sit."

Bonnie waited until Skye sat, her curiosity over Bonnie's cordiality evident on her face, before Bonnie offered her plate. "You can have these if you want. I'm not really hungry."

"You sure?" Skye asked uncertainly.

Bonnie pushed over the plate in response.

Skye dug in with relish; she hated blueberries, but even that didn't spoil it she was so hungry.

"Like your scarf," Bonnie said casually.

Skye brought her hand up to it self-consciously. "Um, thanks."

The two girls fell into a somewhat uncomfortable silence, punctuated only by the clanging and scraping of Skye's fork.

Bonnie looked like she was warring with herself, her brow furrowed. "Skye…" she started, hesitant.

"Yeah?" Skye looked up.

"How did you even get involved with someone like Kai? I mean, you don't have to tell me if you don't feel comfortable, but -"

"No, it's fine. I understand the curiosity," Skye said. "What do you wanna know?"

"I don't know, did you ever have any creepy vibes from him before he...did what he did?"

To be honest, she had been pondering this exact topic for the last twenty years. Grasping at straws, really, because it didn't matter or help now whether she had seen or acknowledged any red flags back then.

"I met him at college. He seemed normal enough at first. Friendly, funny," she started, working out her thoughts. "Don't get wrong - he could also infuriate me like no other person before but that's because, well you've met him, he's obnoxious. As time went on, I guess there might have been some other indicators. He always liked to scare me...you know, sneak up on me. He liked pushing other guys' buttons; he never really had any close friends. He liked making me angry sometimes, it excited him," she paused, hoping Bonnie got the picture. Bonnie was observing her with eyes that reflected the fire, her expression grim. "Of course, none of this seemed weird to me at the time," Skye finished, with a bitter smile.

Bonnie was about to speak, but they were interrupted by the arrival of a vampire. "Shame eating, P.G.?" Damon greeted, with a finger towards her plate.

"P.G.?" Skye questioned.

"It's short for 'Psycho's Girlfriend.' Don't worry, it's a work in progress," Damon smirked.

"Damon likes to give nicknames; it's a defense mechanism that distances him from people so he doesn't start having real human emotions for them," Bonnie informed while Skye digested the information, once again lamenting the fact that everyone seemed to be completely forgetting that she was single. "Actually, I've been thinking about that pregnant lady," Bonnie continued. "She had a thing for pancakes."

"That's what you remember?" Damon asked with some skepticism.

Skye felt like she was missing something, but watched the pair with rapt attention. She'd be blind if she didn't see the parallels she could draw from Bonnie's and Damon's relationship compared to her's and Kai's, though her's and Kai's was probably a bit more complicated and severe.

"You remember, don't you?" Bonnie fished. "You make pancakes every day."

Ah, I get it now, Skye thought. Well, that made Damon less like Kai.

Damon turned to face them, his trusty glass of bourbon on display. "'Cause I'm bored."

"No," Bonnie disagreed. "'Cause you're punishing yourself."

Damon looked away from them, and took a swig of bourbon.

"You call this place your hell, that means you feel remorse. That's what makes you different than Kai. That means there's hope for you." Bonnie said.

Skye could see it, too. His remorse, she had noticed it earlier. "Bonnie's right," she said, earning a brief sneer from Damon before he changed the subject.

"Look, we can still get out of here, Bonnie," he said, stepping from around the island, closer to the table. "We can just steal that Ascendant contraption. Skye can get it from Kai, and in exchange, she can come with us."

Skye wasn't too sure about where Damon's tract was leading, but it almost seemed promising. She had been thinking about Kai's threats against the witch and the vampire earlier, but didn't see how he could gain the upper hand over them. They were a witch and a vampire after all, and Kai was just a witch born without powers. At least, that's what he told her time and time again every time she begged him for a way out.

"Then we all three find out what Kai knows since I get the feeling little Ms. Doe-Eyed over here probably has no clue," Damon continued. "And we'll ditch him. He doesn't have any powers anyway."

"Actually, it's not that simple," Kai appeared, leaning on the door jamb. He leered at Skye for a moment, his eyes tracing the scarf around her neck.

"You've gotta stop doing that," Damon rebuked. "It's creepy."

"Here's the thing," Kai started, ignoring him and walking further into the room, "I have a killer effect on magic. I can't generate myself." He moved towards the table, and Skye and Bonnie stood defensively. He pushed past Skye, and Skye wondered a moment too late if she should have stood her ground as he came right up next to Bonnie and finished, "But I can consume it from others. Temporarily. Family called me an abomination. That hurt my feelings." Grabbing Bonnie's arm, his hand glowed orange on her skin. Bonnie made a strangled noise of pain, but Kai held fast and lifted his hand, palm out. A fire erupted next to Damon, and Damon clenched his head as he struggle to stay up on his legs.

"Kai, stop!" Skye commanded. Of course, he ignored her and she lunged at him. The next second, she was on the ground, white hot excruciating pain had overtaken her brain, her own half-shrieks rising up to join the den.

"Okay, okay..." She distantly heard Damon's strained surrender and Bonnie's muffled whimpers.

The pain was completely gone, she gasped and fought her way back up on her feet. Kai looked satisfied, while Bonnie and Damon were also gasping, hunched over and recovering.

"You can see why my coven and I didn't get along," Kai drawled to them. Skye wished she knew where Damon had hid her baseball bat because she wanted to bash Kai over the head about 50 times.

He shifted his gaze to Skye. "Surprise, babe. Now, you can see why my family hated me."

She just shook her head at him in complete disbelief.

"I smell an ultimatum," Damon interjected, rising up.

"If I consume all of Bonnie's magic," Kai reasoned, walking around Bonnie to her other side, drawing his index finger along her back as he did. Nursing her arm, Bonnie flinched violently away from him. "I am just going to end up killing her." Both Damon and Skye glared at the sociopath as he leaned a hand on the table. "But if we work together, we can all go home as friends," he said, with some earnest. Bonnie regarded him doubtfully, with glistening eyes. "Or I can devour her magic, kill you both, and go home alone." Turning to Skye, with dead eyes, he added, "Or with you, Skye, if you stop disappointing me at every turn."

She didn't reply because what she wanted to say was inappropriate, and because she was too angry to speak.

Sitting down, Kai pulled her plate over to him. "What's it gonna be?" he asked, reaching to grab the fork and knife. He plopped a piece of pancake into his mouth arrogantly, and Skye was left wondering yet again what exactly she had seen in him in the first place, and how she had failed to sense the complete evil.


	4. Chapter 4

Set during 6x05, "The World Has Turned and Left Me Here"

_Old yellow bricks,_

_Love's a risk,_

_Quite the little Escapoligist_

_Looked so miffed,_

_When you wished,_

_For a thousand places better than this,_

_You are the fugitive,_

_But you don't know what you're running from,_

_You can't kid us,_

_And you couldn't trick anyone,_

_Houdini, love you don't know what you're running away from_

"Old Yellow Bricks" - Arctic Monkeys

April 1993

Skye slammed the dorm room door in Kai's face, but he just opened it a moment later and stepped through, sighing.

"Get out," she growled, trying to contain herself. She had not been this angry before in a long time, and she was scared where it would take her. And Kai's insufferable, obnoxious behavior wasn't helping.

"Babe, calm down. It wasn't that bad," he cajoled.

"Wasn't that bad?!" she nearly screeched. "Who says something like that?"

Undisturbed, he pulled out her desk chair and sat, propping his legs up on the desk's surface, making Skye see red. "You know, I've never seen this hostile side of you. I really like it, makes you like 6 times hotter."

Just a foot away, Skye was shaking with the amount of rage inside her, and his continued idiocy only added to it, but he couldn't take her eyes off of her. There was something in his gaze off-putting to her. Like he was fascinated by her rage, like he really meant what he was saying, though his tone was sarcastic.

"Kai, I swear to God…" Her tone was deadly calm, the type anyone would fear from another person, but Kai still sat, watching her, unperturbed. "If you don't leave this room, I will castrate you."

He leaned forward now, his feet meeting the floor, eyes still glued to her, but this time traveling down her body. "Ooh, the threats stage, how fun. Here's a suggestion, though, you should make them more original."

Skye gaped, momentarily forgetting her rage. "What is wrong with you?" she burst out. "Look, you need to leave. I will talk to you when I've cooled off."

Looking around, he ignored her. "When does your roommate get out of class again?" he asked.

She regarded him with utter disbelief. "Kai, seriously."

"Answer the question, please."

"I don't know," she snapped, "Two hours."

"Perfect," he grinned, before his arms flashed out and pulled her to him, forcing her on his lap. She struggled instantly, but he held firm. "Listen," he shushed over her wrathful mutterings. "I'm sorry."

"Yeah, that was totally convincing," she said, still tense in his arms.

Letting out a long-suffering sigh, he said, "Fine, I'm really sorry. I'll never say anything like that again." The anger stirred up again in Skye at his still blasé attitude.

"Wow, you really need to improve your apology skills," Skye said, seriously. She tried to move again, but he clamped down. "Kai, let me up now."

His nose brushed her ear and she froze. "Let me apologize in other ways," he whispered, and just that one whisper against her skin took some of the heat of her anger and transformed it into the heat of desire. But the anger was still there, simmering, and she wasn't ready to let it go.

"No," she insisted "In fact, maybe we shouldn't even be toget-." He had cut her straight off when he inclined his head and pressed his lips to her neck. He knew too much about her in what seemed like such a short amount of time. He grinned against her neck when she let out a little gasp. "Not fair."

Pulling back, he nudged her till she stood up off his lap, though his face had turned serious and hurt. "Actually, not fair is going postal over one idiotic comment, and almost breaking up with your boyfriend."

Instantly, Skye felt guilt weigh heavily in her belly. Observing her stricken expression, he smiled brightly, "It's okay, babe. I forgive you." He pulled her down into his lap again, and this time his lips settled over hers hungrily. She kissed back, desire finally winning out, but she was also confused, wondering how he could've turned around the situation so quickly.  
************

The next morning, Skye jerked awake to see Kai; he sat on the edge of the bed, dressed in a dark, distressed denim jacket, with at least two more dark layers underneath, and black shorts. But what had actually awoken Skye was his movements - he was purposefully bouncing his body, making the bed shake. She was unsurprised, the boy was like an over-excited puppy, trying to wake up it's owner in the morning.

When he saw her open brown eyes, he gave a bright grin.

"Come on," he said, his voice annoyingly cheerful. "Get up. Our friends are already waiting for us in the woods."

Groaning, Skye rolled onto her back, right into a stream of sunlight that poured in through the window of one of the many guest rooms of the Salvatore Boarding house.

She squinted at Kai and pushed her hair back. "What time is it?"

"8:30," he answered, scooting closer to her. His face had relaxed slightly from the grin, but now his eyes were focused on her exposed neck. She froze when he reached with one hand and touched the bruises, gingerly tracing with his fingertips. "That means less than fours hours from now we'll be hurtling through time and space. It will be like Back to the Future, only I'm like way more attractive than Michael J. Fox." Turning his gaze to the floor, his brow furrowed, but he still kept his hand on her neck, except now he entwined his fingers into her hair. "Wait- does that make Bonnie the Doc in this scenario?" He pressed his thumb down hard against the bruise, and Skye hissed in pain. "Because that just seems weir-" Kai stopped when Skye's hand shot up and grabbed his wrist tightly. Their eyes locked for a second, while his expression seemed startled, his eyes held an knowing sadistic gleam.

Sitting up, she shoved his shoulder with all the force she had, causing him to topple to the floor with a loud thump, and a grunt came from his prostrate figure.

He was back on his feet the next second, regarding Skye with pursed lips. "Normally, I would be a little angry about that. But we're going home today, and even you can't bring me down."

Walking to the end of the bed, he bent and pulled all the fabric off Skye and the bed into the floor. "Get up. Our schedule is very restrictive today, and like I said, Bonnie and Damon are waiting on us." While Skye tried to fend off the cold by wrapping her arms around herself, Kai pointed to a neat stack of folded clothes on the dresser. "Bonnie left you some clothes. You have time for a shower, but make it quick. I will be downstairs." With that, he strolled out the door.

Skye got up cautiously, not entirely believing he was gone. She padded to the doorway, and looked into the hallway. It was empty, and if she strained her ears, she could hear him downstairs moving around.

Swiping the clothes off the dresser, Skye walked to the bathroom she had found last night in the hall. Quietly shutting the door, she was insanely relieved to find that it had a lock. She twisted it quickly, and walked to the tub to start the water.

She enjoyed her shower, the warm and cleansing water, but it ended too soon. She dried and dressed fast into the clothes Bonnie had laid aside for her: ripped jeans, a white tank top, and a red and black plaid shirt. Her now more awake brain was reminding her of exactly what the day was supposed to hold for her: the real world, where her mom, Anya, and Anthony were. She even let herself get a little giddy, that is until she turned to the steamy mirror, wiped it and the ugly bruises greeted her. Feeling deflated, she ran a random comb she had found in the medicine cabinet through her hair. The comb was too flimsy to brush entirely through her thick hair, but it was enough.

Stopping by the guestroom again, she slipped on her red Converse, grabbed the dark scarf from yesterday off the bedpost, and wrapped it around her neck. She was glad the scarf was polyester and not wool, which would be hard to explain to Damon and Bonnie in perpetual May weather.

Skye headed downstairs to the foyer. Kai was already there, with the huge front door wide open, and holding up a glass of orange juice and an apple. "Bonnie and Damon already ate breakfast. Pancakes, again, can you believe it? It would be cute if it wasn't so disgusting. Like don't they realize there are a billion other way more interesting breakfast food items? French toast, eggs, even waffles, for God's sake..."

He held the items out to her, and she eyed them doubtfully. He shook them at her insistently. Sighing, she took the glass of orange juice from him and drained it in three gulps, hoping he hadn't gotten his hands on rat poison or something similar. Kai's murder approach was usually more direct anyway. Handing back the glass, she snatched the apple, and walked past him through the door, intending to leave his ass behind. But then she stopped in her tracks, and cringed, realizing she had to wait for him to know what direction to go.

Chuckling, Kai came out and headed left. "I was wondering when you'd realize…" he said.

They set off into the woods. Kai trampled quickly and unforgiving while she followed more slowly and carefully through the underbrush, chomping on the apple. Every so often, he glanced back at her pensively.

"You know, babe, I've been thinking. We can't go back to the real world on bad terms."

"Yes, we can," Skye said immediately, speeding up. She walked ahead and then a little sideways, until she was four trees away from him latitudely.

"Are you still mad about yesterday?" he called.

She didn't answer, only kept walking, not even looking back.

"Look, I'm sorry about it, okay?" Kai almost sounded serious, but Skye heard the slight intonation that betrayed him.

"Sorry, insincere apologies will get you nowhere."

"I had to motivate them, otherwise we'd be stuck here." His voice was closer, and she quicken her pace.

"No, you'd be stuck here because they actually like me. Maybe it's because I'm not the spawn of Satan and Norman Bates."

Turning her head, she saw that he was now one tree away from her. She gave him the sweetest smile she could muster. "Like you, Mal."

Expecting him to get angry for the nickname, she was amazed to be met with an blue-grey pair of mirthful eyes. "Ooh, a Hitchcock reference. You know, he really was overrated…"

Kai launched into a tangent about his least favorite Alfred Hitchcock movies that lasted several more minutes and feet of irregular, dirty, stick littered ground -where Skye tossed the remnants of her apple.

Skye was relieved to finally hear two other voices-Bonnie's and Damon's; she practically jogging at this point.

"But Kai's a sociopath. Who's to say he won't screw us over?" Good point, Bonnie. Skye thought. She could see the witch and the vampire now, stepping into a small clearing, but she could also sense that Kai was right at her back.

"Me," Damon answered. "I say. Because I will kill Kai, and anyone who comes in the way of me going home."

Breaking into the clearing, both Kai and Skye slowed. Kai had already pulled out the Ascendant, and came to stand in the middle of the group.

"I heard my name," he said to Bonnie and Damon. "All good, I hope." They only stared back cautiously.

"Doubtful," Skye quipped, honestly. She tried to give Bonnie a smile, but the witch was focused on Kai.

Raising the Ascendant to his forehead and looking up, Kai said, "The eclipse will happen directly overhead." He brought his hand and head down. "In perfect alignment with the Gemini constellation." Pointing to Damon, he directed, "You need to dig into the tunnels below us. We'll do the spell there."

"Why?" Bonnie questioned.

"Have you never portal jumped through an eclipse before?" Kai asked sarcastically, feigning shock.

Damon, Bonnie, and Skye all shot him looks of exasperation. "Okay, look," he said, ready to explain. "The light of the eclipse will shine down and activate the Ascendant." Now, he pointed to Bonnie. "You spout a little bit of witchy-woo. And poof," he finished dramatically. "Anyone standing in the circle of light, holding the Ascendant, goes home."

"By witchy-woo, I assume you mean the spell?" Bonnie asked.

"Uh huh."

"Let me see it," she demanded.

"When the time comes," he said cryptically. Kai started forward, passing in between Damon and Bonnie, headed in the direction they had come from. Skye came forward too, perplexed.

"Where are you going?" Damon asked casually.

Kai turned, "Into town. I need to gather some important supplies." His eyes shifted to Skye, "You coming?"

"Uh-," She looked towards Bonnie and Damon. They were watching her, but offering her no alternative.

"Come on, Skye," Kai insisted, patting his legs. His tone was similar to a tone of pet owner, calling for their dog.

She glared at him; that was sure making her want to follow.

Bonnie stared at him, openly hostile. "You can stay here with us, Skye," she said softly while glancing meaningfully at Damon.

"Yeah," Damon agreed, upon seeing her look.

"Thanks, guys, but it's okay. He won't do anything to me," she said, already headed towards the grinning fool. That he hasn't already done a hundred times over, she thought, as he turned, walked a few steps, and vaulted around a tree.

Besides, it would be best if one of them kept an eye on him.

Kai had led her to a car on the side of a road, and presented her with her own blue canvas backpack.

Now, they were browsing the record store in the downtown area of Mystic Falls. Kai was concentrated hard on his selection while Skye felt less concerned with hers. He had said supplies earlier, and to Skye that meant things they would need in the real world to survive, like money, toiletry items, extra clothes, food, etc. And surely, one could still access this music in the future. It had only been eighteen years; some of the music in the store had been around longer than that. She had tried to explain all this to him, but he had pulled a face at her, and plugged his ears until she stopped talking, all the while throwing one grunge CD after another into his bag.

Not to to be outdone, she started picking out her own CDs away from him. The Beatles, Beastie Boys, Radiohead, The Cure, and Depeche Mode eventually found their way into her bag.

Picking up Cypress Hill's Black Sunday album, she peeked over the track listing before grinning to herself.

"Hey, Kai, here's your song," she said. Curious, he made his way over before taking the CD from her grip and glancing down at the song she had indicated, "Insane in the Membrane." Rolling his eyes, he threw the album over his shoulder carelessly, and it landed on a rack with a clatter. While she laughed, he snatched her bag from her grip and began rifling through her selection.

"Really?" he burst out, taking out Depeche Mode's album Violator. " 'Enjoy the Silence." Oh my god, I remember this god awful song. You used to sing along to it all the time, like really loudly and off-key." He laughed nostalgically. Skye, always protective of her music choices, grabbed the CD and her bag from him. But Kai continued, in his inane, self-righteous Kai way: "I always wondered how you failed to see the irony. I mean, they were using words to describe how words were meaningless. I still can't decide if it was really stupid or ballsy of them. They should've just put a blank track in it's place and entitled it 'Enjoy the Silence.' Now, that would've been ballsy and hilar-"

Skye exited the music store, and walked quickly across the street, headed to another building where the storefront read "General Store."

Here, she grabbed what she considered necessities. Kai barged in, not even five minutes after she had entered. "Way to be rude, babe," he said, making his way towards her place in the food aisle only to be diverted by the stand up coolers in the back. "Ooh, Zima." Changing his path, he walked to the display. "Damon told me they discontinued this, can you believe it?"

"Yes, that stuff is disgusting," she answered, before exiting once again without him.

Now, she just needed to find a bank...and break into its safe. Now, she actually needed the criminal. Sighing and turning, she went back to the General Store. Kai was already sitting on the counter, swing his legs, a bag of pork rinds opened at his side, and draining a bottle of Zima.

Wiping his mouth with his sleeve, he raised his eyebrows at her approach. "She returns. And here I had just resigned myself to the fact that you were being annoyingly independent today."

That statement made what she had to ask for next ten times harder, "Actually, I need your help."

His face broke into all-knowing grin that just got bigger by the second; she contemplated smacking it off his face.

After Kai had revealed the bank's location, broke into the vault successfully (with no small amount of gloating) and Skye had collected twenty thousand dollars, they drove back to the side road and headed back into the forest, the backpacks heavy on their backs. Kai was rambling, but Skye was preoccupied, thinking over the behavior he had displayed so far that day. The wake up call, breakfast, the backpack, the trip into town, his almost seemingly endless patience - he was acting like he typically would, after he brutalized her in any way. She recognized for what it was, a tactic of emotional manipulation. She had read all about it in all the books she had consulted about sociopaths, of course once she'd learned he was one in the prison world.

Speaking of the world, cutting off Kai mid-babble, Skye addressed an issue that had been bothering her since yesterday.

"So your family called you an abomination because of your...ability?"

He actually looked genuinely surprised for a split second, but it was gone and replaced by a smirk too soon for her to be sure it had happened.

"Yeah, my whole life," he replied. "Why do you ask? Feeling sorry for me?"

"No, just thinking about self-fulfilling prophecies," she said softly. He raised an eyebrow, staying silent. But he was interested. She continued: "You know, the idea that if a person gets called something over and over again, he tends to become that very thing, even if he wasn't before." His gaze stayed straight ahead. "The situation usually reflects poorly on the name caller," she said as his head snapped to her, and for the first time in her life, she thought she saw uncertainty on Kai's face. She had to finish, though. "But the victim's not entirely blameless either. They did fulfill the prophecy, after all." His features went hard again, and he seemed to sneer at her, before he sped up and left her behind. Skye already knew that she never would feel sorry for Kai, or not blame him for his actions. She just had needed to tell him that.

She trailed after him, until she saw the clearing again. Except now there was a big hole in the middle of it, with Bonnie sitting on it's edge. She was chatting to Damon, who Skye guessed was inside of it. She watched from her approaching distance as Damon heaved the pick axe over his head before he brought it down again. Then she heard rocks falling down into what sounded like a hollow space.

"Looks like we got back just in time," Kai said, stepping into the clearing, pulling his bag from his shoulder. Skye stepped into the clearing too, but stopped behind him. Which was a good thing, as Damon vamped out of the hole and snatched Kai's bag right out of his hands. Damon unzipped it and examined its contents, while Bonnie looked on with some concern. "Zima, grunge, every Alex Rodriguez rookie card known to man, and a pager. Really?" he finished, the last part laced with snarky surprise.

"555-HIYA-KAI. There's no way I'm giving those digits up," Kai answered. Skye rolled her eyes; she had forgotten all about his stupid pager.

"These were the important supplies you had to get?" Damon asked, with skepticism. He turned to Skye, "Please tell me you have more common sense than your boyfriend over here."

"Look, the future sounds great," Kai interjected before Skye could respond. "I'm super excited about the Internet. But 1994 has been my home for most of my life, and I'd hate to get homesick."

Damon rolled his eyes, but he didn't deter Kai.

"So, let's get down there-"

"No," Bonnie broke through, standing up, approaching Kai, and pushing Damon off to the side. "We're not going anywhere until you show me the spell."

"Oohkay," Kai drawled out, putting his hands in his pockets. He smiled between the two, showing his willingness to wait.

"Are we literally not going anywhere?" Damon asked, showing the barest hint of his irritation.

"Fine, you don't want to show me the spell," Bonnie reasoned. "You can do it yourself." Holding her hand out, she challenged, "You want my magic. Take it."

"Uh oh, she's being brave," Kai said to Damon, with contempt. This exchange marked the instance that Skye became nervous for Bonnie. She didn't even want to know what Kai's face looked like.

Skye stepped closer to Kai from behind while Bonnie did the same, though in front of him. "I'm serious, Kai. This was your big threat, wasn't it? If I don't do the spell and let us out of here, you'll just take my magic, leave me for dead, and do the spell yourself. So, go ahead," she challenged once again. "Take all of it."

There was a slight pause before Skye heard Kai say "Don't mind if I do." He slapped his hands on her shoulders, holding the tops of her arms tightly. Bonnie skin glowed orange under his hands, and she groaned out in pain, tipping forward.

"Bonnie," Damon said, concerned. Skye moved even closer to the pair, ready to intervene.

"It's okay," Bonnie reassured through gritted teeth, straightening to look dead into Kai's eyes. "He won't kill me."

"Doesn't look like that from here," Damon said. Skye had to agree, and she was barely able to see Kai's face.

"Kai," Skye finally cautioned.

"Shut up, Skyler." He also spoke through gritted teeth, but she figured his were on edge for a different reason.

Kai twisted his arms, and Bonnie fought against him, but she let out a new, louder moan, and the pain finally showed on her face.

"Hey, Bonnie," Damon barked. "Whoa. Guys."

Skye grabbed Kai's shoulder, hard.

"Stop!" Damon commanded. Kai finally released Bonnie and she staggered a few steps back. Both witches were breathing heavily before Bonnie said, with scorn and complete confidence, "He doesn't know the spell. Which means we don't need him. Motis."

With a flick of her hand, the pick axe rose from the ground and impaled itself straight into Kai's chest. He let out a thick grunt, and coughed, while Damon started shouting, "No! No, no." Kai fell to the forest ground right away, almost comically, his eyes rolling into the back of his head. Skye went down with him, but scrambled away as soon as she could, and looked in utter shock, not upon Kai, but upon Bonnie. She had never expected such as thing from the girl, the one who seemed so righteous.

"Bonnie," Damon said, also seemingly scandalized at Bonnie's action, but only because to him, Kai was the wealth of information they needed. Damon patted her on her shoulder condescendingly, "Great work, Bonnie."


	5. Can't Keep You Back, Can't Bring You In

Set during the second half of 6x05, "The World Has Turned and Left Me Here," and 6x06,"The More You Ignore Me, The Closer I Get"

_To you it's all a game, but all I do is analyze_

_Words that make me rot inside_

_To you it's all the same, I'm just a human sacrifice_

_use me like a parasite_

_Can't keep you back, can't bring you in_

_Can't fade to black, can't let you win_

_When nothing works for me, when nothing works for me_

_You make it hurt, you make it worse for me_

_I let myself down_

_You make it worse, you make it worse for me_

_You were supposed to make it easy_

_We were supposed to be a team_

_We were supposed to live some kind of dream_

_But in the scheme of things, you only want to scheme_

_Are you some kind of creep?_

_Words are cheap._

"You Make It Worse" - Raleigh Ritchie

Warning: for some graphic violence

May 1993

"You've been studying all night," Skye complained, slumped down face first on Kai's bed.

"Yeah, well, human physiology is hard," he said, flipping yet another page. She sighed into his pillow. He sat, leaning against the headboard, concentrating hard on the textbook in his lap. Skye was squashed between the wall and his side, his tiny dorm bed barely leaving any room. His roommate had left for the weekend, while Skye's had annoyingly stayed put so they were forced to spend their time here. She was only adverse to the arrangement because Kai's roommate was a slob, his smelly clothes littered the floor. Kai's half of the room was pretty orderly, but still smelt like the pork rinds and beef jerky he kept in his second desk drawer.

"Your final's not even till Monday. It's Friday," she reminded him. He only hummed absentmindedly.

"We could've been getting drunk with my friends right now," she said, longingly.

He snorted, at least she had gotten his attention. "It's adorable you think that. After what happened last time, there's not a chance in any possible dimension of hell that I'd put myself through that again."

"I still don't understand why you don't like my friends," she said, turning on her side to face him.

"Uh, because they're loud and obnoxious," he said, bring the book closer to his face to examine a diagram of the human heart.

Skye stifled a laugh. Seems like I attract those sort of people, she thought. Instead, she said, "It's not my fault you don't have any we could hang out with."

"Friendships are tedious," he muttered. She shot him a weird look, but he didn't see, only continued studying the next diagram of the lungs. She watched him for a moment, the way his eyebrows were furrowed, and his mouth actually relaxed, not turned up at the corners like usual as if everything he encountered amused him. She liked it, it made him look less arrogant. Feeling mischievous, she snatched the textbook from his grip. Closing it, she slipped it behind her back and pressed it against the wall.

"Really?" he snapped, throwing his hands up. Skye just grinned in response. Huffing, he grabbed her side to roll her away from the wall, but she had braced herself against it. He glared. "You do realize I have to have the whole human body and its functions memorized in less than 72 hours. Otherwise, I'm gonna flunk out of college and have to listen to my parents drone on and on about my sister, and how rainbows and butterflies shoot out of her ass."

"Memorize my body," Skye suggested, smiling, struggling against his continued pulls on her side.

Kai paused, surprised for a moment before he grinned roguishly. "You wanna play doctor?"

"Okay, you just ruined it," she groaned. "I meant study mine and use it as your visual aid."

He looked confused, so she shifted until she was on her back. She grabbed his hands, and pulled, causing him to move until he straddled her so he wouldn't fall off the narrow bed. Taking his hands, she placed them on her stomach, before moving hers to lay at her side. "Show and tell, Dr. Parker."

Kai simply stared down at her with intense expression before he smirked slightly, and slid his hands up her abdomen to trace her ribs. Running his fingers along the bones, he explained, "These are your true ribs. They call them that because they directly connect to your sternum through the costal cartilages."

One hand came up, and fingers dipped into the crease of her cleavage, and pressed hard against the bone, his nails indenting. "This is the body of the sternum."

She took a deep breath, and tried to appear as though she was unaffected, but her body heat was rising. His smirk only increased in size.

He then rested the same large hand on her chest, right above her breasts, his fingers dipping into the hollow between her collar bones. "This is the manubrium of the sternum; it rests over your heart, which is beating rapidly, by the way." Their eyes locked, and she could see the lust developing in his, but he persisted, moving his hands down to her stomach to rest again. "All these bones I've pointed out serve a purpose of course, specifically to the thorax, to protect your heart and your lungs from external injury." His deft fingers now edged up the hem of her shirt, and came to rest on her skin. Goosebumps erupted all over her body.

To Skye, there was nothing hotter than this simple demonstration of knowledge.

"I think you're gonna do well on your final," she said, her voice breathy.

"Please," he returned, just as breathily. "This is one small portion of the skeletal system. There are like sevent -"

"Shut up, and kiss me,"she interrupted, her patience sapped completely. He hovered over her, grinning, for an agonizing moment, drawing out the anticipation, before he quickly pulled off his shirt and bent to grant her request.

The textbook stood on its spine, completely forgotten against the wall.

Afterwards, she laid curled on his chest, with his arm around her; his fingers were back to prodding, this time along her bare spine.

"Ow," she complained. He was pushing hard against the knots in it and doing it repeatedly.

"I'm just counting your vertebrae," he told her before his hand jumped to her shoulder blade, and he traced the edges of the bone.

"Okay," she snapped, pinching his nipple. "It was hot earlier, but now it's annoying."

"Ow!" he yelped, halting her hand before he laced both of theirs together tightly. "Speaking of hot, how are you spending your summer?"

"Well, I usually go home for the summer," she said, closely inspecting his curious face. "Why?"

His voice taking on a playful tone, he said, "I was wondering if you wanted to spend a few weeks, oh, I don't know, maybe...moving into an apartment with your boyfriend?"

Skye froze, a small smile threatened to grace her face. "Seriously?"

Kai laughed sarcastically. "No, you got me. I was being totally insincere. Why would I want to live with someone who refuses to do my laundry or cook for me?"

She just grinned, leaned up, and pecked his lips.

************************************************

Skye was still in shock; this time it was concentrated on Kai. She was still in the same position as before, on the ground beside his body, but now she was cross-legged, and had her fingers up to her temples. She stared fixedly at the pickaxe lodged grotesquely in his chest. She didn't really blame Bonnie for getting rid of the jackass, she understood perfectly that he presented a dangerous risk simply by virtue of being himself. Bonnie thought she was removing the risk, but Skye knew that she had only really made the situation worse. She just hoped they were all gone before Kai could get his revenge.

Bonnie had moved to sit on the pile of dirt next to the hole, to browse through her grimoire, and study the Ascendant while Damon leaned on a tree behind Skye, sipping Kai's Zima. He had been grumbling every so often, usually about Bonnie's intelligence and how she had turned Kai, the only person with any information into a "douche kabob," while Bonnie, annoyed, would ask him to stop so she could concentrate.

"You two do realize we only have a few minutes before he wakes up, right?" Skye finally spoke, bringing her hands down.

"What do you mean wakes up?" Damon asked sharply while Bonnie looked up curiously from her spellbook.

"I mean," she said, turning her body to face them both. "We can't die here, it's part of the punishment. Our bodies just regenerate every time."

"Of course they do," Damon mumbled caustically, tipping the bottle back to finish it off. "Now we have to hurry even faster to figure out how to get the hell out of here, with no help from anyone who knows anything. Bonnie," he emphasized, once again expressing blame.

"Actually, I'm working on something," she said. "Think about it, Damon. What prison gives an inmate a key?"

"Is that a trick question? Or is this stuff actually starting to kick in?" He quipped.

Skye interjected, "One that needs more than just the key." Of course, she just assumed it was magic.

"Exactly! I think the Gemini coven used a Bennett spell to create this place," Bonnie explained. "What if that's why my grams sent me here?"

"This is the face I make when I don't understand you," Damon informed, tilting his head and crossing his eyes. The vampire was obviously not following, or refusing to.

Huffing in annoyance, Bonnie tried again. "You know, the last thing my grams said to me was to stay strong. What if that was her way of telling me I have to the power to get out?" Damon seemed to be considering it. Bonnie continued: "I have the Ascendant, a massive celestial event to draw from. Plus a burning desire to get away from you." They both shot each other small smirks while Skye looked knowingly between them; they liked each other, but they'd refuse to ever admit it. She was going to smile, but then her periphery caught Kai's Converse-clad foot.

"I also don't think Skye deserves to be here," Bonnie said, smiling over at her. Skye tried to smile again, but she was sure it turned into a grimace, though she was grateful for the witch's support.

"So, here it goes," Bonnie murmured before she chanted, "Sangina Mearma, Ascendarum Cavea."

The metal wings of the Ascendant extended, and Bonnie stood up, letting out a disbelieving laugh. She held the contraption out to Damon and Skye, almost preciously, and the two regarded it with incredulity. "That's why Kai wouldn't kill me. He needed a Bennett. I was his only way out of here," said Bonnie, before she turned, with determination, and stepped across the dirt pile to the edge of the hole.  
"Whoa, where are you going?" Damon asked.

"Home," she said with a small smile. "You guys coming?"

Skye stood, no small of amount of excitement and hope flooding through her, while Damon looked up to the sun; she guessed he was trying to gauge how much time they had before the eclipse. She looked up too; she figured another half-hour at least.

"Get down there, Damon," Bonnie said, indicating the hole that opened up to a cave floor ten feet below. "Somebody's gotta catch us. We all can't have vampire agility, and Skye and I don't wanna break anything."

The cave was cold and dank, the only light filtered through the hole above, which Bonnie was currently standing under. Damon sat on a boulder a few feet away, draining Kai's last Zima.

Skye stood, not far from Bonnie, to her right, observing her moments. She might've have been fascinated by the witch's continued performance of magic at any other time except all she could think about at that moment was Kai's dead body above them. She was growing restless and doubtful, a gnawing ache in her stomach, half-scared he would show up and ruin their chance. The other half of her felt guilty, and almost wished that he would, though it would be awful for all of them. After all, he didn't have to call her back when she had paged him all those weeks ago, or tell her where to find him. He didn't have to bid his time until she arrived. He had never tried to stop her from tagging along. In fact, he made sure she was here this morning.

She snapped out of her thoughts when Bonnie cut into her palm with the sharp edges of the Ascendant's wings, letting out a sigh of pain. Skye watched as she let her blood drip onto the top of the device right over the jewel in the middle, staining it red. Bonnie glanced at both Skye and Damon, steeling herself, before she closed her eyes and chanted the Latin words once again, "Sangina Mearma, Ascendarum Cavea." The metal wings extended out to their highest setting while a cog whirled. "It's time, Damon, Skye," she said, her voice revealing the barest hint of happiness.

"Alright," Damon said, jumping up from the boulder while Skye stepped into the circle of light. "Let's get awkward."

He stopped, considering. Bonnie held the Ascendant in her palm, and Damon placed his under hers, "Like this?" he asked, carefully.

Bonnie simply replied, "Yep."

Skye immediately placed her palm under Damon's; he didn't react, but Bonnie smiled at her briefly before she turned her head back towards Damon - which was a good thing because Skye never returned her smile.

A deluge of thoughts had assaulted her the moment she put her hand on Damon's, things she had never thought before. Like what the hell was her family gonna think, if she did get to see them? They thought she had gone missing with a mass murderer, and that she had been his accomplice. In fact, they probably grew to hate her when they read the details of the supposed horror and terror she inflicted.

Or what would they think of how she was still the same age, having never aged due to the magical prison world she was currently trying to escape. She was supposed to be 40 years old and she still looked like she had on the real May 10th, 1994 - a 22 years old. They wouldn't believe she was who she said she was, and she had no one else to turn to. Maybe Damon and Bonnie would take pity on her, but she had already exploited their hospitality here and doing so in the real world would only make her feel like a moocher.

Besides, Kai had been her companion for better and for definitely worse for the last 20 years. Their time here hadn't been all bad. There were whole periods of civility - their shared suicide pacts, drinking parties, the four year period they had attempted to do the apparent impossible - they had entitled it Operation Blue Lagoon - their truces for holidays and birthdays. All those times would make being stuck here with him tolerable before he would inevitably grow bored and snap. It was a cycle she internalized in herself, one she was too used to.

The whole time she had been thinking feverishly, Damon and Bonnie had been talking, but she hadn't caught any of it. Skye made her decision.

The devil you know, she thought, as she retracted her hand.

"Skye, what are you do -" Bonnie was cut off abruptly, as something whirled through the air and hit her, sending her to the ground, out of the circle of light. The Ascendant flew from her hand and landed a few feet away.

Skye was startled, though she really shouldn't have been, as she observed Bonnie with an arrow sticking out of her abdomen. Both her and Damon turned to see Kai, standing with a crossbow, pointed at them. "Forgetting someone?" he asked, lightly, bringing the weapon down. But his tense body told Skye just how pissed he was, but she was too worried about Bonnie right then to focus on him. She ran to her side and knelt, while Kai kept talking, "Do you really think we haven't tried to kill ourselves before?" Bonnie let out a grunt, and tried to pull on the arrow while Skye tried to stop her, knowing it would only make her bleed out faster. Damon was torn between keeping on an eye on Kai, and wanting to help Bonnie.

"Because we have, lots of times," Kai continued. "Lots of ways. Sometimes separately, sometimes together. Always with the same results." He notched another arrow, and aimed right at Damon. Skye guessed Damon's eyes went to the Ascendant because of Kai's next words, "Grab that and the next arrow goes in her heart," he said firmly. "Your choice." Skye could only watch Damon's back as he decided, and watch Kai as he dared him cockily.

Bonnie groaned, and the next thing Skye knew, Damon was on Bonnie's other side. Whispering, "I've got you, I've got you," he ripped the arrow from her abdomen though Bonnie and Skye let out a noise of protest, and bit into his own wrist. Skye had unwrapped the scarf from around her neck, quickly reaching over to apply pressure to the wound with it.

That's was when Kai dropped the bow, and started full speed towards the Ascendant. "Damon, no," Bonnie warned. Kai reached it, and snatched it up haphazardly.

Both Damon and Skye reacted, though Damon's vampire speed was faster, as he forced Kai into the opposite cave wall, pinning him by the neck. The Ascendant fell; Skye darted to it while Damon and Kai struggled. "Don't you dare, Skyler," Kai forced out, sounding half-strangled. He managed to stab Damon in the chest with an arrow. Skye ignored him, running back to the Bonnie, with the device in hand. In that time, Kai had gained the upper hand in his fight against Damon, turning the vampire until he was pinned to a boulder, and forcing the arrow closer to his heart.

Now it was Damon's turn to force out, "Bonnie, get ... out of here."

"I'm not going to make it," she said thickly, still out of reach of the light. Skye tried to pull her, by her elbow, into the ring, but Bonnie resisted. "But you are," she said determinately while Damon let out a groan as Kai got closer and closer to puncturing his heart. Raising her hand towards the two men, Bonnie said, "Motus." Kai was launched up, almost as if on puppet strings, over the boulder and onto the ground. Damon was turned and, by an invisible force, dragged into the ring of light.

"Don't!" Kai said, but to no avail as Bonnie threw the Ascendant. It landed right in Damon's hands, and the wings extended once again.

"No. No!" Damon protested loudly as a bright light descended and he vanished; the Ascendant fell to the cave floor in pieces.

Kai screamed unintelligibly, but Skye watched Bonnie's as her eyes filled up. Bonnie smiled for a small moment and it was heartbreaking - it was a smile that showed genuine happiness for saving her friend, but it instantly turned into a grimace when she realized her situation. Skye tried to smile back, her own eyes stinging at the display of raw emotion. She wanted to tell Bonnie it was okay because she was going to protect her from him, the boy pacing like a caged animal in the corner, seething.

Bonnie finally slumped to the ground and lost consciousness, and Skye put her hands back on her still bleeding wound, hoping it would clot soon.

A few minutes passed before Skye even attempted to speak, observing Kai as fumed in his complete fury. She hadn't seen him this rage-filled since right after they had landed in the prison world, and of course the first thing he did was lash out at her, killing her for the first time. So she definitely wanted to tread cautiously here.

"Kai," she said, trying to get his attention.

"Do not talk to me," he said it so lowly and venomously that she almost lost her breath.

"Look," she pushed. "I know that you're angry, but we need to get her out of here. You know, make sure she doesn't bleed to death."

He ignored her, bringing his hands up to run through his hair frustratedly. So she tried a tactic that she knew would work. "We can't let her die; she is our only source of magic."

He gave her a "no shit" look, before he came forward into the ring of light. Saying nothing, he bent and collected the pieces of the Ascendant, carefully sifting through the dirt with his fingers. He stuffed each small piece into his pocket.

"Kai," she said, impatiently. Bonnie was still bleeding, staining her hands a deep red.

"I know," he snapped, before he knelt next to them and pushed Skye back fell back onto her butt. He grabbed Bonnie's forearm, and Skye noticed her skin glowing orange for a mere moment, where Kai's hand came into contact. "Kai," she said with alarm, grabbing his bicep.

"Chill," he snarled, swatting her hand away."You wanted to get out of the cave. We need her magic to do that."

He murmured lowly, too lowly for her to hear, then all three of them were levitating.

Kai levitated Bonnie's plank-like figure all the way back through the forest to the Boarding House, thankfully not leaving a trail of blood. Skye wished she could say he was being careful about knocking Bonnie into trees and the walls, but she'd be lying. He stayed quiet, too, which unnerved her.

Inside, he broke the magical connection and dropped Bonnie's body unceremoniously down on one of the couches in the living room, the room the foyer overlooked.

Immediately, Skye pulled up the edge of Bonnie's white, partially blood-soaked blouse to inspect the damage. The hole wasn't that large, but it was tattered. Arrows definitely did not leave clean wounds. At least, she had stopped bleeding and Skye didn't think she'd need stitches. Which was good, because then she would've had to ask Kai to do them; she didn't trust him, but he had the training. She sensed Kai's presence not too off behind her, looking as well.

She turned, about to yell at him, but he held out a package of gauze bandages, scissors and medical tape, his face still twisted in anger. He may be insane and wrathful, Skye thought, but he's not stupid. Bonnie was safe from him for the time being, Skye was happy to see.

She took the items from him, not saying a word. She set to work, cutting large patches of the gauze and layered them over Bonnie's wound.

Meanwhile, Kai stomped around the room. He took the Ascendant pieces out of his pocket, and tossed them on the desk behind the couch right across from the one Bonnie's lifeless body was occupying, and where Skye stood, mending her. He tried to sit and sort through the pieces, but soon he impatiently stood. He couldn't seem to stay still, and to be honest, he was distracting Skye. She couldn't help but feel a sort of hyper awareness of his movements, prepping for his inevitable lash out.

He started pacing in the space between the two couches while she cut the strips of tape to fit the edges of the gauze. She tried to lay them down carefully, but she never had a steady hand. Finally done, she surveyed her work. It wasn't neat, but it would do. She pulled Bonnie's shirt down to cover the treated wound, moving Bonnie's legs over slightly, she sat down on the couch to rest. She intended to guard Bonnie as long as she needed to.

"So, babe, how are you feeling?" Kai's voice finally cut through the thick silence. Falsely concerned, a farce that eventually would work its way into a manic episode.

"I'm just fine, Kai. You?" she replied, nonchalantly. She was anxious to get it over with, so they could move on.

"Funny you should ask. As a sociopath, I'm not supposed to feel emotions, you know, at least that's what you are so fond of telling me," he said, grinning too brightly, and pointing his index finger at her. He had stopped pacing. "But I've gotta to tell you, I do. The ones I'm feeling right now are pretty easy to recognize, actually, even for me. Extreme anger, resentment, even betrayal." He now aimed his finger down at Bonnie. "Now, the first two are directed at the little witch here you seem so tenaciously set on befriending, and sucking up to."

"But the latter one," he continued, almost looking disheartened. "That's all on you, Skye." Staring at her for a moment, he turned thoughtful. "It just hurts. You try and try and try for a person, and they continually spit in your face. Your loyalty was something I used to admire about you, and now it's like it's virtually non-existent."

Skye fought hard not to roll her eyes at his dramatics, though any other person might be moved by the speech. Besides, his mention of her fierce loyalty did not sit well with her. Maybe it was because she had just demonstrated an hour ago the very thing he was accusing of not having for him. "I didn't betray you, Kai. You can stop the melodrama. You're not Judd Nelson, and this isn't an audition for the Breakfast Club. You're not misunderstood and well-intentioned, you're just a crazy person."

He seemed to draw in a deep breath and squared his shoulders; she guessed to keep calm. "Tomato, potato. It doesn't matter," he shrugged. "Anyway, you're just like me since you're lying."

"Actually, I'm not lying about betraying you," she reiterated, putting air quotes on the verb "betraying." "If you hadn't shot Bonnie with an arrow, you'd have noticed that I took my hand off the Ascendant." He only shook his head in an exaggerated way, unbelieving, as he resumed his pacing.

"I was ready to stay here with you," Skye insisted. "Because I wouldn't wish being stuck here alone on my worst enemy, which also happens to be you so you know I'm not just saying that."

"You're lying," he dismissed, laughing humorlessly.

"I'm not lying," she said, forcefully. He stopped mid-pace, irked by her tone. His face was cold, and his jaw was clenched. He closed the distance between them in three strides, before he leaned down, menacingly, four inches from her face. She stared into his depthless eyes unflinchingly.

"Stop lying about not lying," he said, almost mildly. But it was his demeanor that almost shook Skye, the controlled aura he exhibited seemed all too fragile.

"I'm not. Besides, shouldn't you be able to tell, Master Manipulator?"

He finally backed down, though his eyes were still piercing straight through her. Turning, he stormed from the room. Skye exhaled shakily, and then gasped a few moments later when Kai appeared again under the room's archway, looking blank, but he had a kitchen knife dangling from his right hand.

"So I'm gonna give you a choice. This," he said, holding the knife aloft, "can go into your gut or across your throat."

"Don't you dare," Skye snarled, and stood. She started moving slowly, towards the back of the couch, attempting to put some distance and objects, and unfortunately Bonnie, between her and the madman, though she knew he wouldn't kill Bonnie, not now at least.

"I'm sure the gut wound would be a slow and very painful process so of course that's the one I'm partial to, but I said I would give you the choice." He moved towards the couch, already at the place she had been sitting.

"If you think my hatred for you is bad now, it's gonna be ten times worse if you use that on me, Malachai." Her voice cracked on "ten," finally revealing her fear, and she hated herself for it, but Kai was distracted by the usage of his full name as his eyes flashed, but he stayed still.

"I will never speak to you again. I will never look at you. I will move heaven and earth, and kill you as many times as I need to, to make sure that she gets to go home," Skye told him fiercely. He only stared expressionlessly, running his fingers over the edge of the blade.

Finally, she added, with a dry mouth, "And that I go with her."

This statement provoked Kai into action. He lunged quickly towards her, but he still had to get around the barrier of the couch. Skye had already turned and was running to the foyer, into the hall, headed for the staircase. She couldn't have gone to the front door because it would've taken too long to open it inward. Her best bet was to reach the bathroom, the one with the lock she had used earlier in the day. It closed from the inside, meaning she could barricade against someone's force if she needed to, and it had the lock of course.

However, she had only reached the foot of the stairs, when his arm snaked around her waist from behind, and the other came up to press the blade against her throat. She kicked out, to gain purchase on anything: the banister, the rug, against his legs. She tried to bite his arm, but her attempts were futile as Kai slashed the blade across her throat swiftly and efficiently before he let it drop to the floor. She sagged instantly, and started gurgling, her hands reached up instinctively to staunch the too rapid blood flow. He caught her, and turned her around so he could see her face, cradling her head in one hand and supporting her by the waist with the other. Her eyes were panicked and hate-filled as they meet his frenzied ones. Then darkness took over, the last image floating in her head was of his grimacing but relieved face.

Kai slowly sunk to the bloody rug, still propping Skye's body up against his own. He buried his face into her dirty blonde, now blood-matted hair for a moment. He had watched as the light left her eyes, and now he reached his hands up to pass over her still open eyes and closed her eyelids.

He felt better now. It was the rush. It was always the rush. It was comprised of adrenaline and something deadlier, something only people like him understood. A catharsis.

Kai sat for the next thirty minutes, holding Skye, his chin resting on her head, as her body repaired itself and cells regenerated. The torn flesh of her neck slowly knit back together, and the strangle marks had disappeared too. When he felt her muscles jumping and tensing, Kai carefully laid her out on the floor. He walked upstairs to take a much needed shower and change into unbloodied clothes.

Skye shot up, gasping. She was sitting in a pool of her own blood. The vile bastard had left her in a pool of her own blood. Her white tank top was now drenched, and completely red, matching her plaid shirt. The stained knife laid a few inches away, and she grabbed it without a thought. Struggling to her feet, she started down the hall and came back into the living room. Bonnie still laid, unconscious and unharmed, on the couch in the exact position Skye had left her. She slumped down beside Bonnie, and closed her eyes, feeling completely numb, the knife resting in her lap. She refused to think.

After some time, she felt him enter the room, smelled the fresh scent of shampoo perfumes, but she did not acknowledge him, and she missed his forlorn glances.


	6. Don't Burn Me Now

Set during 6x07, "Do You Remember the First Time?"

_All this time I've been lied to_

_You're always in between, I go too far_

_You know I got the anger of a burning sun_

_Say hold up just a minute, don't burn me now_

_If you burn me down you'll never find your way_

_If you burn me down, it's true, a little drop of dreams_

_Locked in a cage, for a really long time, time, time_

"Locked In a Cage" - Brick + Mortar

October 1993

Skye slammed the door, and threw her backpack down on the carpeted floor beside the door.

Kai, who had been lounging on the couch watching a rerun of The Fresh Prince of Bel Air and stuffing his face with barbeque chips, turned his head at the sound. "Hey, babe," he greeted before he observed her frustration. "Rough day?"

She huffed, and quickly disengaged all the buttons on her peacoat. "Well, it's a funny story. Do you remember Mark?"

Kai furrowed his brow, thinking back.

Not waiting for an answer, she continued, "He was my partner for this project. You know, the one that counts for 35% of my grade. He came over Wednesday to work on it." She came around the couch, and stood in front of him with her arms crossed.

She wondered if Kai could sense where she was headed with her rant, but his brow was still furrowed, resembling an confused three year old. She didn't know if he purposely acting obtuse or if he really was.

"He asked Dr. Frenquest today if he could do the project solo. He wouldn't tell me why when I asked him. He only said, 'Ask your boyfriend.' So my question to you is what the hell is going on?" Skye couldn't say she was mad, just perplexed at least where it concerned Kai. She was mad about the project and at Mark; it was Friday and she now had until Monday to complete the project by herself, though the professor had advised Mark to let her keep their original idea while he came up with a new one.

It all seemed to suddenly dawn on Kai. "Oh, that Mark."

"Yes, that Mark. What did you say to him?"

Kai shrugged, leaning forward. He laid the bag of chips down on their coffee table, and licked the residue off his fingers. "Well, the first thing I said was 'Hi, I'm Kai.' and then he said 'Hi, I'm Mark.' We shook hands-"

"Kai," Skye snapped. She remembered that part of course, but it hadn't actually happened that way. If she recalled correctly, she had introduced Kai to Mark, when he had gotten home from volunteering at the hospital and found her and Mark working on their project at the kitchen table. And Kai had been friendly, joking with him, until he grabbed something to eat and promised to stop bothering them so they could work. Kai had never said anything to her after Mark had left either.

Holding up his hands, Kai smirked and chuckled, "Fine, I might've said something else to him when you left to go to the bathroom."

Of course you did, she thought with exasperation. "What?" she asked flatly.

He stood, and his face and tone became imperious. "Well, I was in here listening to you giggle every two minutes at everything he said. It got kinda annoying." He moved closer to her, until he came to a stop before her, his eyes deadly serious, but he was still smirking. "So when you left to go the bathroom, I thought I should remind him that you were my girlfriend. And not to get any big ideas rolling around in his pea-sized brain."

"Kai," she sighed. She wasn't surprised, this wasn't the first time he had acted this way, jealous and possessive. She just wished he would talk to her about it, although there was small, very small part of her that soared when he acted like this. Mostly because his actions confirmed for her what he never really told her in words: I love you, and I don't want to lose you.

"Don't ask me to apologize to him because I'm not sorry," Kai said sternly, grabbing her arms to bring her closer to him. But she resisted, pulling out of his reach.

"It's fine," she answered, headed back to the front door, where she grabbed her book bag from the floor. "Screw him. He's a pansy if he's intimidated by you anyway. And I don't have the energy to be mad at you; it's all gotta be focused on finishing this stupid project." Shouldering her backpack, she crossed to the kitchen archway, and left Kai standing, with a cold gleam in his eyes.

Five hours later, Skye was still in the kitchen at the table, using an Elmer's glue stick to glue down pictures of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow to a tri-fold presentation board. She had heard Kai moving around the apartment, smartly avoiding the kitchen. He had kept the television down to a low decibel, for which she was thankful. He seemed to be wary of bothering her, and she was kind of shocked, not knowing Kai to be that considerate. Maybe this was his way of trying to make it up to her.

However, she doubted it a moment later when she heard The Cure's "Friday, I'm in Love" blaring out suddenly from the living room. Getting up from the her chair, she walked cautiously to the kitchen archway.

Kai was dancing, badly-prancing around and spinning, arms and legs flailing, almost dangerously coming into contact with the hard surface of the coffee table. He jumped on the couch and rocked out on air guitar, before switching to air drums.

Watching him, she couldn't help but crack a smile and let out a small laugh. The sight sort of reminded Skye of the iconic Beach Boys scene from Saved by the Bell. Except Kai was a dark, loner version of Zack Morris. Hearing her, he stopped. His eyes met her, and his cobalt ones were filled with warmth and humor. They matched her brown ones as she tried and failed to hold back more laughter.

"You hate this song," she finally spoke up loudly enough to be heard over the music, when she had calmed.

"Yes, but this is like your favorite," he explained just as loudly. He jumped down from the couch and headed towards her. She felt light, now, the stress had left her body courtesy of the laughing fit he had just caused her to have. He embraced her, wrapping his hands around her waist loosely. He was breathing slightly put her hands on his shoulders, before they traveled up to his neck and to his cheeks, and she softly caressed his sharp cheekbones with her thumbs, her fingers nestling into his short thick hair. Her eyes traced her actions while his watched her heatedly.

"I've got to say your apologies have improved a bit," she told him, able to speak lower since they were closer, meeting his eyes. His eyes were depth-less, to her they seemed to contain a multitude of intense emotions, but they were indistinguishable from another.

He smirked, and she smiled back before she rose up and planted a small kiss on his mouth. Skye had intended for it to stay small -a reward for growth, she supposed-but in trying to draw back, he gripped her tighter. Their lips stayed against each other's, and their hot breath mingled.

She pressed a rougher, more lingering kiss to his lips, which Kai eagerly responded to in kind while the track played out in the background. 

*************************************************

For the rest of the day, Skye kept her eyes closed tight, even through out Kai's constant prattle - which consisted of taunting remarks and weird observations.

"You're always been a terrible fake-sleeper, babe…"

Not faking sleep, just ignoring you, she answered in her head.

"Did you know the human heart creates enough pressure to squirt blood 30 feet?"

Yes, actually. I think you demonstrated it for me once.

"I've always wondered what happened to our old neighbor. What was his name? You know the one who always had a weird stench coming from apartment... "

Gary, she supplied.

The comments were all pleas for attention by a person that was half starved for it all the time like a true performer, and she steadfastly ignored him. His voice stayed the same distance away, and she heard his hands working against the wooden desktop - the metallic clangs of the Ascendant pieces.

Skye wasn't sure how much time had passed, it was hard to gauge. She had been grateful when he finally fell quiet and stayed that way.

After fifteen minutes of complete silence, she decided it was safe. She opened her eyes to complete darkness. Night had settled on the Boarding House, and in the prison world. She couldn't see for a minute before her eyes adjusted, and the moonlight streaming in through the windows illuminated Kai's figure on the opposite couch. He was sprawled out, one hand resting on his stomach. She considered for a moment, wondering if Bonnie and she should attempt an escape, but, looking to her right, she saw that Bonnie was still asleep too, her chest rising and falling softly. I could wake her, she thought...but she knew from experience that Kai was a light sleeper. Not to mention, Bonnie was still injured and she didn't know if Kai had finished putting together the Ascendant.

Besides, her lids and limbs felt heavy, too heavy to move.

She must have given into real exhaustion, because the next time she opened her eyes it was morning. The knife wasn't in her lap anymore, but, strangely, a light brown teddy bear sat instead, facing her.

"Skye, meet Ms. Cuddles. She's Bonnie's childhood bear," Kai's voice rang throughout the room. He appeared under the archway again, but luckily no knife was in sight. He moved back to the desk, where she briefly observed Ascendant pieces still scattered.

Skye picked up the bear like it burnt her, and glared at it.

"Don't look at her like that. She's sensitive," Kai chided, sitting in the desk chair.

She leveled the glare at him. "Don't look at me like that. I might start to think you like me again," he teased.

She refused to react, already mad at herself for even deigning to look at him.

Suddenly, the witch beside Skye came awake and sat up, giving the teddy bear in Skye's hands a strange look.

"Look who's awake," Kai said.

Skye set the bear down on the end table beside her, before asking, "Are you okay, Bonnie?"

However, Kai had asked her simultaneously, "How do you feel?"

Bonnie focused on answering Kai, as she clutched a hand to the wound in her abdomen. "Like you shot me with an arrow."

"Right," he said flatly. He resumed fiddling with the Ascendant pieces. "Anywho, I have no idea how you managed to shatter the Ascendant in a billion pieces, but we need to put it back together before the eclipse at 12:28. You wanna help? Skye's a little mad at me, so she's refusing, but I know you're a puzzle person."

"I don't want to help," Bonnie said fiercely, struggling to stand. Skye grasped her by the elbow and helped her, standing too while Kai watched them indifferently. Bonnie continued:"You're a psychopath. This place is your prison. I'm not letting you out. Besides, you'll just kill me and Skye the minute we get out." Skye had kept her eyes on Kai's face throughout Bonnie's speech, closely observing as his eyes dropped to the floor after "psychopath" and the way his eye twitched at the mention of his killing both of them, and she knew that's probably what he wanted to do now at this moment. She grabbed Bonnie's arm and pulled her away from the couch and closer to the exit archway, trying to put more distance between them and Kai as he rose with purpose.

"You've been through a trauma," he started, coming towards them while Skye looked nervously around for a weapon. "Your memory's probably a little fuzzy right now. So you might be thinking that your magic can protect you. But all I have to do-" he broke off, grabbing Bonnie's wrist. She let out a groan. "-is hold your hand and your magic becomes mine," he finished. Bonnie had become immobile, whimpering. Kai further taunted her, putting his ear to gasping mouth, as she tried to pull back. "Wait, what's that? Huh, what? You're gonna do the spell and finally get us home?"

Skye finally spotted the letter opener on the end table, just a bauble the Salvatores kept around, but it had a fine point. Gripping it quickly, she forced her way in between the two witches who had forgotten about her, breaking Kai's hold on Bonnie. She bought the letter opener down hard on Kai's jugular, before he could even react. He grunted loudly, reaching up instinctively as the blood came gushing out. He fell sideways onto the rug, in between the couches, letting out more grunts. "Bonnie, get the Ascendant," Skye ordered, while she knelt next to him; she had to make certain this wound would kill him. Bonnie immediately grabbed Kai's backpack, and swept the Ascendant pieces into it. Kai looked pitiful and helpless to Skye, as he held one bloody hand to his wound, trying futilely to stop his impeding temporary death, unable to even speak. He grabbed Skye's hand with his free one, but she broke his hold easily, and soon his bloody hand fell to his side and he stopped moving altogether.

Skye stood, taking a deep breath, then both her and Bonnie ran to the door.

Bonnie led Skye quickly to the powder blue Camaro in the detached garage, the one she had followed from the grocery store. They rushed to get in; Bonnie let her drive, since Skye wasn't injured or in pain. They speed around town, while Bonnie wracked her brain for a good, safe location. She finally decided on Mystic Falls Hospital, and gave Skye the directions.

Once inside the grand building, the two girls became paranoid, looking over their shoulders every time they turned a corner.

Bonnie finally picked a room where they could settle, the triage nurse's office with a worktop and medical supplies. Bonnie poured out the contents of the backpack onto the table, and began sorting the pieces. Skye went straight to the cabinet, which contained pill bottles and bandages. Scanning the labels, she found an antibiotic and a pain killer she recognized. Grabbing both and an bandage from the box, she came around to the other side of the table. She handed Bonnie the bandage, and watched sympathetically as Bonnie lifted her blouse, intermittently wincing and hissing in pain, and replaced Skye's soaked makeshift bandage. Skye handed her the pills next, and Bonnie dry-swallowed them.

"Okay," Bonnie said, glancing at the clock on the wall. "An hour and forty-three minutes."

"We can do it," Skye encouraged.

It was important to Skye to keep Bonnie going because she was the only one between the two of them that had handled the Ascendant, and knew its design. Ironically, Skye had only directly touched it once, so she wasn't going to be much help in the reassembling. Bonnie didn't seem to mind, however, as she hunched over and hurriedly set to work.

"So what's the first thing you're gonna do when you get back?" Skye asked when the silence became too intense.

"Hug my friends," Bonnie answered, distractedly. "You?"

"I don't know," Skye admitted. The thought of it scared her now, the unknown. Or maybe it was just residue fear from their encounter with Kai, she didn't know.

"Is that why you took your hand off the Ascendant yesterday?" Bonnie fit two half-round, flat, metal pieces together; they seemed to snap into one like puzzle pieces.

"One of the reasons, yes." Skye said, hesitantly, inching one of the Ascendant's small, curved pieces forward. It looked like one of the what she called the "wings" of the Ascendant. They jutted off the side of the round contraption, and it was one of the pieces that would extend out when Bonnie chanted her spell yesterday.

"Is Kai another reason?" Bonnie's tone was light, but there was an edge to it that put Skye on guard.

She waited a moment, ruminating, before responding, "It's complicated."

"You know, I saw what he did to you, the day before yesterday. I saw him choke you," Bonnie said, using the same tone. Skye could sense Bonnie's tone was a little judgmental, but she couldn't really blame the witch for judging her. She had made a questionable decision.

Skye eyes widened, "How?"

"Through a window," she said. "I guess you could consider it spying, but I'm glad did because that's when I realized you were just another one of his victims. That's when I realized I could trust you." She glanced up for a second, and offered Skye a half-smile before snapping on another small piece of the Ascendant into place.

"That's why you offered me the pancakes, and talked to me," Skye said slowly, recalling back. "You even said something about the scarf."

"Yeah, I wanted to see if you would tell me about it, but you didn't."

Skye let out a deep breath. "Sorry, I just..." she trailed off, head down, unsure about what to say.

"It's okay," Bonnie said. "You barely knew me. I get it."

Bonnie's comment reminded Skye just how little time had passed since she met Bonnie and Damon; only three days or four days had passed, but it felt like a century. Still, it was enough time to learn she could trust them, even if her only other alternative was a sociopath.

"Thank you, though." Skye said quietly, still fiddling with the parts Bonnie hadn't used.

Bonnie simply nodded in response, pushing at a stubborn piece.

Bonnie had now completed the base of the Ascendant. She pulled the round metal grate out from Skye's idle fingers, and set it on top of the base.

"Okay, now the last piece," Bonnie said. "Where is it?" She looked at Skye expectantly.

Skye raised her hands up to reveal the empty table top.

Bonnie became frantic. "No, where is it?" She grabbed the backpack and shuffled through it while Skye, with a sense of foreboding, checked the table top again and the surrounding floor.

"This isn't happening," Bonnie whispered, bring her fingers up to her brow.

"It's oka-." Skye stopped her fruitless reassurance when the fluorescent lights above their heads went out abruptly, almost like someone had cut the power. Kai.

"Shit," she muttered, trying to come up with a plan of action. They could run, but she really didn't know her way around this place and Bonnie would probably get winded. They could meet him head on, and he would probably force them into cooperating by threatening and hurting them.

But the whole time Skye was deliberating, Bonnie had already made her way to the door and stepped into the hallway. Skye finally noticed, and instantly set off after her. Head on, it is, she thought as she followed Bonnie down the hall into the empty waiting room, taking light steps, wondering if having the ability to do magic made one more reckless than she needed to be.

The girls looked over the shoulders, to check the end of the hallway they had just come from.

"Looking for this?"

Bonnie and Skye whipped around. Kai stood at the other end of the waiting room, holding up a small, golden gear.

"You two stole the Ascendant. Naughty girls," he taunted with relish. "You weren't planning on using it and leaving me behind, were you?"

Bonnie became defensive, standing straighter. Skye sincerely hoped the witch had a plan because she had no idea what to do.

"You left a trail of blood in the driveway," Kai informed, taking steps towards them, intimidation rolling off him in waves. "I figured where else would you stop and play nurse?"

"Vatos!" Bonnie cried out, swiping her hand into the air.

Kai let out a yell as everything in his corner of the room-a chair, a shelf, the blinds, the windows' glass, the light fixtures- converged on him with an invisible force, trapping him.

Skye was astonished by the sight, the sparks of electricity exploding and the shards of glass raining down, and didn't immediately react like Bonnie did, who had already taken off down the hall. "Skye, run!" Bonnie called out.

Snapping to attention at Bonnie words, Skye did run, but not after Bonnie like the witch had probably wanted. She chose the waiting room entrance right next to her, the door they had come through earlier. This way, she knew where the hell she was going. Meeting a staircase, she ran down it quickly, almost stumbling to the ground at the bottom.

Skye pushed past double doors into another nondescript hallway, only to find that she'd forgotten which way the hospital entrance door was. Her pause proved unfortunate as she was gripped from behind, a hand closed over her mouth, while an arm wound its way around her waist, pinning her arms. Of course, it was him. She would always recognize the feel of him, though she wouldn't always enjoy it. In fact, she panicked, remembering the scene from yesterday when they had been in a similar position.

Skye bit into Kai's hand hard, hoping to draw blood, but he wrenched it away.

"Get off, you ass!" She struggled, but his hold was too strong.

He pulled her even tighter against his front, his head coming to rest heavily on her shoulder. He shushed her, his mouth grazing her ear. "Shh, babe. Language," he admonished teasingly. "Ready for some rest?" That was when she felt the prick of the needle in her neck, and the cold rush of liquid into her system.

"Next time you decide to run away from me, maybe pick a place that doesn't have syringes and sedatives ready to use," Kai whispered as she drifted, going limp in his arms. "That was way too easy...almost no fun at all."

Subduing Bonnie also proved easy for Kai; all he had to do was hide in the backseat of the disabled Camaro, while she stumbled to it, clutching her side, four minutes after he had dispatched Skye. A hold to the throat, some jeering, a threat to Skye - it induced the necessary fear and defeat in the rebellious witch.

He marched Bonnie, a tight hold on her arm, to the old, black sedan he had been using. It was the one he had used the day before to take Skye to town, and the vehicle's trunk now contained Skye's blue backpack, stuffed with more goodies-at least that's what he considered them. Kai ordered Bonnie to wait while he went back into the hospital to retrieve the nearly completed Ascendant and his own stolen backpack.

He smiled devilishly when he added the gear to the device. To think, the witch all done all the hard work for him. Sweeping the cabinets, he took two more bottles of painkillers as well as more sedatives and syringes. He packed all the items up neatly and safely in his backpack before placing it on his back. He made his way downstairs leisurely, and went to the hallway where he left Skye, unconscious. Picking her up bridal style, her head and limbs lolling with dead weight, he carried her down the hallway, around the corner, in the right direction of the hospital entrance doors."We'll be back to the real world soon enough, Skye," he told her, cheerfully. "I've got big plans for us. You'll see some new places, but, don't worry, they'll have familiar faces." Though probably not the familiar faces she really wanted to see, but it didn't matter much to him as he went on, "I'll gain unlimited power, murder any people that get in my way. You'll like it."

He continued across the driveway, out to the car where Bonnie still sat in the passenger seat, with a tear-stained face. She composed herself hurriedly, using her fingers to swipe at her face. She watched in the sideview mirror, straight-faced, as he opened the door to the back seat and laid an unconscious Skye inside.

Skye came awake, but kept her eyes closed, and attempted to get her bearings. The surface under her was hard and unforgiving, probably the ground. Cold air licked her skin, the air itself felt damp. Like she was back in the tunnels underneath the town, the cave. Before she could open her eyes to check, something warm caressed her cheek, a hand. "Skye," a voice sing-songed. Her eyes shot open to meet Kai's form. He was bent over her, obscuring her view, and the light that filtered through the hole above cloaked parts of him with shadows, mostly his face. She shivered violently, from the cold air, from the sight, and the potency of the sheer hatred she felt at his nearness. She sat up quickly, and scrambled back from him. "Where's Bonnie?" she asked, her mouth dry and her voice hoarse. The world had spun for a moment, and she was in a stupor; she felt dazed,...drugged.

"I'm right here, Skye," Bonnie answered softly. She was able to look past Kai now and could see the witch standing on the other side of the ring of light. She was half-turned, as she observed, what Skye strained to eyes to see, the bloody arrow on the ground. To Skye, she looked unharmed, and Skye was relieved.

"She's fine. No new holes, at least not courtesy of me." Kai interjected, and Skye's gaze darted back to him. "Aren't you gonna ask about me?" He gave her a mock-hurt look, and pouted.

Ignoring him, Skye got to her feet shakily before she came to stand in between them, on the light's fringe. Kai remained crouched, but had turned to face them. "Brought you a present, Bonnie," he said. He pulled Skye's backpack off his back, plopped it down on the ground, and unzipped it to reveal the teddy bear that had started out its morning on Skye's lap. Pulling her out, he sang, "Ta da." Bonnie barely acknowledged him while Skye just stared at him, mystified. "Ms. Cuddles," he continued good-naturedly. "I thought you might want to bring her along."

"Thanks," she said, emotionlessly.

Kai glanced down for a moment, seemingly bothered by her less than stellar reaction. "I know you think I'm a monster," he said, his tone serious. Bonnie and Skye both gave him sarcastic nods back. "I mean, I did murder or heavily maim most of my immediate family." He stood, and spread his hands in a pacifying gesture while Skye listened intently, her indifferent gaze focused on the ground. Bonnie reacted even more sarcastically to his words in a "tell me more" way, folding her hands together. "But after a long period of self reflection, I've come to the conclusion that I could've handled my anger better," he finished. Skye had to work hard not to scoff aloud; this was his attempt at emotionally manipulating Bonnie with faux remorse. Skye didn't even need to look at Bonnie to know that the girl was too smart to buy it.

"You said you wanted to get out of here, and I quote 'to give the rest of the Gemini Coven an excruciating death,'" she reminded as Kai smiled bitterly.

"I didn't mean it," he denied casually, waving his hand. "Honestly, I would do anything to get my family back." His dejected gaze settled on Skye for a moment. "And for Skye to look at me the way she used to."

Skye rolled her eyes, keeping her face down-turned; he was a good actor, though, she'd give him that-his soft tone was perfect, just the right amount of regret and sadness. He even left Bonnie looking stricken for a moment.

"The thing I'm most scared of is trying to live in the world again," he proceeded. "I'm sorta hoping you've been a positive influence on me. You're a good person, Bonnie. You're brave, loyal, patient. I wanna be more like you," he said wistfully. Bonnie had schooled her expression back to impassivity, but that didn't deter Kai as he heaved up the backpack and put the bear in front of his face. "What do ya say?" he said, in a high-pitched voice, animating the bear. "Friends?" he asked, waving its plush arm. He made it blow a kiss.

Skye was reeling; she couldn't believe how thick he was laying it on, and wished to tell him so, so she did: "You are so full of shit, Malachai, that your eyes should be brown."

He stared at her for a minute, still half-hiding behind the bear. Some emotion she couldn't decipher was in his eyes, but he chose not to react. "I'm sorry you think that, Skyler," he said ruefully.

"Let's just go home," Bonnie broke in flatly.

She stepped forward into the ring of light. Skye came forward too while Kai threw the backpack down at their feet, the bear's head still poking out. He pulled the Ascendant from his pocket and handed it to Bonnie. All three of them glanced upward to the sky to see the sun's and moon's trajectories at near convergence.

"It's now or never," Kai said. Bonnie cut her palm open once again with the edge of Ascendant's wing, and poured it over the center of the contraption. She started chanting, but Kai's hands shot out and grabbed the wrist of her bleeding hand forcefully while his other grabbed Skye's hand, enough to almost crush her bones. He only seemed amused at Bonnie's accusing eyes. "Just in case you two thought you'd try and go without me," he explained, then winked. Skye watched as some blood dripped down on 's ear, and put her free hand under Bonnie's, the one holding the Ascendant.

With her hostile eyes on Kai, Bonnie resumed her chant, "Sangina Mearma, Ascendarum Cavea." The wings of the Ascendant extended, its cog whirling.

Skye and Kai glanced up again, to see the eclipse occurring, the moon's shadow blocking the sun's bright light. Kai returned his gaze to the Ascendant. "So long 1994," he said gleefully.

All of a sudden, the Ascendant snapped its wings inward, but they remained where they were. No brilliant white light shined down like it had with Damon. "What the hell is happening?" Kai demanded.

"I don't know," Bonnie answered. Kai's head shot up to the eclipse again; its apex was passing. "Keep going. Hurry," he ordered Bonnie, his grip tightening on both girls.

"I can't!" Bonnie struggled, trying to pull her wrist from his hand's hold.

"Keep going!"

"Kai, stop!" Skye told him, unable to handle his impatience for Bonnie when something was obviously wrong with the witch.

Bonnie broke his grip."I can't! I lost my magic," Bonnie revealed. It finally clicked for Skye just what Bonnie was doing and she smiled internally; Bonnie was a convincing actress too.

"What are you talking about? You were just doing the spell!" Kai's disbelieving voice was insistent and loud. He let go of Skye's hand to violently grab Bonnie's wrists, using both hands, making her drop the Ascendant. There was a pause before he scanned Bonnie's distressed face rapidly and said, "There's nothing there. There's no magic."

"It's so strange," Bonnie started, while Kai took another desperate look upwards. "I wonder if I accidentally put it somewhere. Oh, I remember now. I put it somewhere safe." Bonnie finally exposed her subterfuge with her own smirk. Kai's face was twitching; Skye knew this was a sign he was trying to contain himself. She took a half-step forward, so she was partly in front of Bonnie and facing him. Kai turned, and walked a few steps away, bringing his clenched fist to his mouth. He turned back, and Bonnie inquired sarcastically with raised eyebrows. "Where. did you. put your magic?" His delivery was measured, but it also showed how soon his calm facade would crumble.

"Do you remember saying you wanted to be more like me?" Bonnie taunted. "Brave." A growl built in Kai's throat as he turned away again, but Bonnie kept going, "Loyal. Patient."

He stopped abruptly, his back to them. "You put it in the bear," he said, the certainty and excited amusement now clear in his voice a stark difference to the tone before. "Didn't you?"

He spun around with a smile, and immediately started towards the backpack. Grabbing it, he poured its contents out carelessly on to the cave floor. Only CDs fell out to the stone ground with a clatter and other debris, but no teddy bear. He threw the now empty backpack down in frustration and yelled, "COME ON!"

Bonnie winced, but Skye tensed, ready for the onslaught. "Calm down, Kai," she cautioned. He, however, was the very picture of rage as he regarded them before he menacingly advanced. He stopped within a hair's breadth of Skye as she stood protectively in front of Bonnie. "Where's the stupid bear?" he whispered to Bonnie, barely composed, over Skye's shoulder. "Hmmm?"

"Oh, it's gone. I guess we're stuck here. Forever. Sorry," Bonnie said, not sounding apologetic at all. Kai just stared back, surprisingly keeping himself in check. His eyes turned thoughtful before he smiled, obviously an idea occurred to him. He stepped back, and walked directly to a boulder adjacent to their spot. Reaching behind it, he pulled out a green backpack-his from yesterday, the ones the girls had stolen. He set it on the boulder, and with his back to them, unzipped it and pulled something from it. There was a pause as he performed an activity, his arms flexing. Bonnie and Skye couldn't see what he was doing, and that made them nervous.

However, when Kai turned, brandishing a syringe, both girls panicked, backing away from him. But both belatedly realized they had nowhere to run and no weapons since Bonnie had sent her magic away.

"Who wants to go first?" Kai asked rhetorically, before he hurtled in their direction.


	7. Chapter 7

Set during 6x08, "Fade Into You"

_Will the ending reek of salty cheeks_

_And runny makeup alone_

_Or will blood run down the face_

_Of a boy bewildered and scorned_

_And you'll find yourself in a skirmish_

_And you wish you'd never been born_

_And you tie yourself to the tracks_

_And there isn't no going back_

_And it's wrong wrong wrong_

_Are you pulling her from a burning building_

_Or throwing her to the sharks_

_Can only hope that the ending is as pleasurable as the start_

_That's right, he won't let her out his sight_

_You knew that it'd be trouble right before the very first kiss_

_Quiet and unassuming but you heard that they were the naughtiest_

_She pleaded with you to take it off_

_But you resisted and fought_

_Sorry sweetheart, I'd much rather keep on the balaclava._

"Balaclava" - Arctic Monkeys

 

May 9th, 1994

It was a sunny Monday morning, just two days after their college graduation, and Skye was finally supposed to meet Kai's parents. Traffic was heavy on Interstate-5, and the couple had gotten a late start. Kai weaved in and out of lanes and around the other cars like a maniac, at least by Skye's measure.

"Kai, slow down, please," Skye persisted. This was her third try, and Kai wasn't listening, or more appropriately, obeying. In fact, sometimes, she suspected he went a little faster each time she asked.

"Skye, I have to speed if we want to get to my parents' house on time," he reasoned. "Punctuality is crucial to a first impression, and you were the one that wanted to give them a good one, right?"

Skye scoffed. She had originally wanted to make the best impression she could, but she felt like any shot at a good impression was blown now, as she sat, perched on the edge of her seat with the visor mirror pulled down, dabbing at the glaring red spot on her neck with some foundation powder. "Not at the expense of my life. And we wouldn't be late if it wasn't for you," she remained him lightly. She was surprised that Kai was actually eager to be headed home, normally he dreaded it.

"Excuse me, you were the one who suddenly decided your entire wardrobe was inadequate."

"I would've found something sooner if hadn't distracted me," she countered.

"If anything, you distracted me by your lack of clothes," Kai shot back, good-naturedly. She couldn't help but let out a short laugh at the statement. The sound made him grin. God, did she love that grin-his square, white teeth and soft lips. The way it lit up his whole face, and almost put her in a trance, reminiscent to the first time she had ever seen him. It almost made her forget small annoyance with him. Almost, because the red spot still remained partly visible in the visor mirror, in spite of the make up.

Normally, she wouldn't care about a hickey, but on the day she was going to meet his parents for the first time, it seemed a little inappropriate. Luckily, her hair could cover it, should the powder wear off, as long as she kept it resting over her neck.

She shut the visor, and leaned back in her seat. Surveying Kai as he drove, lounging in the seat, with one hand on the wheel and the other resting on the windowsill of the door, she was envious of his casual clothing: tan cargo pants, a reddish T-shirt, a white long-sleeved shirt underneath, his omnipresent silver chain, and black cuff bracelet. She wished she could've just showed up in her ripped jeans, worn Converse, and faded Beatles shirt, but she figured that wouldn't be very prudent. So she settled for her black and white flower printed sundress paired with a white T-shirt underneath it. It was a little bit casual, but still dressy enough to be appropriate for the occasion, she thought. Of course, Kai barely gave her an opinion either way, stating only "clothes," when she had asked him what to wear. Studying him closer, she came to a realization.

"You're not wearing black today?" she asked. The couple had been in a period of mourning, with the recent suicide of Kurt Cobain.

"No, today's a happy day," he said. "My beautiful girlfriend is finally meet my crackpot parents, who, by the way, still owe me a very special 22nd birthday present."

"Your birthday was months ago." January 26th to be exact. He had first reminded her four months in advance, and kept reminding her at least three times a month as it got closer. They had celebrated it by themselves early on the 7th because she had surprised him with a pair of concert tickets to see Nirvana in Seattle-they had a great time together, that was even more special now being one of Kurt's last performances. On Kai's real birthday, they celebrated by themselves again with dinner and cake at their apartment. She thought they had a good time then too, at least from what she actually remembered as two bottles of tequila had been involved.

"They wanted to wait to give us this present," he explained, smiling infectiously. He seemed excited at the prospect of this gift.

"Ooo, is it a car?" she burst out. "Please let it be a new car." They desperately need a new one because she wasn't sure the one, a black '76 Lincoln Continental, they were currently riding in was going to make it very long in their next phase of life. They were moving to Seattle, where Kai had gotten accepted into the University of Washington's medical school program, and she had applied for jobs at some of the city's independent publishing houses.

"No," he laughed. "Something even better than that. Something I've wanted for a long time," he told her, his voice now enigmatically wistful. She tried to think up guesses as to what that something could be, but when she voiced them, he denied each one.

They drove for thirty-five more minutes, and it was only when they passed through Portland's downtown that the gravity of the situation settled over Skye. She could feel her nerves setting in and getting the best of her; she grew quieter. It was only when they were fifteen minutes completely past Portland and on a two-lane country highway, surrounded by woodland, that she spoke up again. "Whoa, I didn't know you lived this far out. Have you secretly been a farm boy this whole time, Kai?"

"I just have very paranoid parents. And please, no Deliverance jokes, either, babe," he said, giving her a humorless glance. "We only have about twenty more minutes until we get there." Pointing to the car clock that read 11: 40, he teased, "Would you look at that? Right on time."

She ignored his teasing because her nerves skyrocketed. "Tell me about them again, please," she pleaded.

Sighing, he told her his tips again, which actually resembled reassurances more - reminding her that his Dad was a curmudgeon that didn't like anyone, his twin sister, Josette, and other six siblings, whom he already described in infinite detail at her insistence, would like her for novelty's sake, and that his mother, though she could be guarded, really had no reason to not like her. Skye, focusing on his words and keeping the pit in her stomach settled, really paid no attention to his turns and the car's exterior surroundings and was stunned when they had finally arrived at their destination.

"We're here," he announced cheerfully. Here was deep into the forest, on a dirt path. She didn't really see anything except trees. No structures, no sign of civilization. Turning back to his amused face, she shot him a confused look.

"Is this the part where you reveal you're actually a psycho, and then savagely murder me?" she asked, jokingly. Though, a small part of her might have been half serious.

He started laughing, laughter that slowly turned into cackling practically. "Cackling is not really reassuring," she said, while he attempted to calm himself.

"Ah, you're too funny, babe," he said, coming down from his fit, letting a few chuckles escape him intermittently. Leaning over, he kissed her temple. "Come on, we have to walk the rest of the way."

She stepped out and followed him as strolled forward confidently until he passed through two small, post-like brick structures and they were suddenly greeted by a two-story white house in the middle of a clearing. It was large, it was charming; a quintessential family home. Skye became self-conscious-this house was like three times the size of her family's home in Salem.

Kai stopped for her in the yard a few feet from the porch steps, as she took everything in. She smiled at him. "Wow, it's beautiful," she said.

He only rolled his eyes, and that's when the front door slammed open with a bang. A young woman with dark hair rushed out, headed for Skye. She caught Skye in a tight hug, which the Skye returned somewhat tentatively. She glanced over the girl shoulder to Kai, who was laughing to himself quietly at his sister's exuberance. "It so great to finally meet you, Skyler," the girl said, as she pulled away.

"Josette?" Skye asked, smiling warmly, as she regarded the girl that looked like a female version of Kai.

"Oh, sorry. You can call me Jo," Josette replied. "I'm just excited. Kai's never brought home any of his girlfriends before."

"Oh, really?" she asked, grinning at him. He had tensed at his sister's admission.

"Jo," Kai warned.

But before Skye could ask for details, they were interrupted by other Parker family members slowly filtering their way out of the house and into the yard. Two very young children, a boy and girl, four years old, blond and angelic, came up behind Jo. The boy hid behind Jo's legs, but the girl eyed Skye critically.

"You must be Lucas and Olivia," she said, remembering the information she had pried out of Kai.

Jo reached her hand down to smooth Lucas's hair. "Can you two say hi?"

"Hi," Olivia said shyly. Lucas remained quiet.

Two boys and a girl were behind the twins. The girl was the tallest, skinny and a blonde as well, she looked to be on the cusp of teenagerdom, complete with braces and acne. Skye smiled at her next. "Nicoletta, right?" she asked, holding out her hand. The girl shook her hand, returning the smile. The two boys, the taller one Skye figured was Joseph, eleven and blonde, and the shorter, younger one with dark hair was Isaac, gave her perplexed looks, before they turned to Kai. "Who is she?" Joey asked.

"This, little bro-," Kai said, coming to Skye's side and wrapping his arm around her shoulders. "-is Skye, my girlfriend."

Isaac crinkled up his nose at the word 'girlfriend.' Joey, however, teased, "You could get a girlfriend?"

"Ha, ha," Kai returned sarcastically, releasing Skye to lunge at his brother playfully, ruffling his hair.

"Joseph, don't be rude," a new voice chastised. An older, thin woman had appeared on the porch, smiling. She had blonde hair and as she made her way down the porch stairs, past her numerous children who parted like the Red Sea, and closer to Skye. Skye noticed her eyes were exactly like Kai's. She extended her hand. "Alison Parker, pleased to meet you. Skyler, right?"

"Yes, ma'am," Skye said, feeling her nerves, which had dissipated at Kai's siblings' informal reception, resurface at the older woman's entrance. This was who she had to impress, after all. She vaguely heard Kai's snicker in the background.

"I hope you're hungry, Skyler," said. "Lunch is already on the table." Isaac and Joey bounded up the stairs and through the door within the instant, Mrs. Parker following right after, leading Jo, Nicoletta, and the twins, leaving Kai and Skye in the rear.

Skye took a deep breathe. Kai grabbed her hand, pulling her forward. "Ma'am?" he questioned, his eyes gleaming laughingly.

"I got nervous," she replied quietly. He squeezed her hand, and it gave her just a tad more confidence as they walked up the porch steps.

 

*******************************

Skye was getting really tired of waking up from drug-induced sleeps, disoriented and terrified. Unable to recognize her surroundings, or even tell how much time had passed. Everything ached-her limbs, her head. She dreaded even opening her eyes, fearing what she would see. Her mutilated body, maybe. Worse, now she had to worry about Bonnie, and what Kai had done to her. Her brain had no qualms assaulting her with images of all of sorts of horrific possibilities-all deriving from her own experiences at Kai's expert and terrible hands.

All she knew at this particular moment of awakening was that someone was crinkling cellophane really loudly, exacerbating the pain in her aching head, music was playing softly in the background, and she was in a moving car-its interior she vaguely recognized. Her drug-dazed brain could identify the song, Nirvana's "In Bloom,", but not the tree-lined, straight, two lane highway she observed through the windshield. Glancing over, she saw Kai behind the steering wheel, eating a Twinkie in an obnoxious way, almost stuffing the whole confection in his mouth at once while a can of Coke fizzed in the cupholder of the console.

He had changed his clothes; now clad in black cargo pants, a dark blue jacket, a light blue graphic shirt, and combat boots. His hand went down to the Coke can, without looking. She watched as he took a hearty swig.

She looked down at herself, she was still dressed in her blood drenched outfit from who knew how many days ago, except the buttons of the shirt had been done up to cover her tank top. And her hands were sitting in her lap, bound together with duct tape. She didn't know whether to be happy or angry that he hadn't tried to clean her or change her clothes, but she settled for being disgusted about everything overall. She brought her hands up to her chest, and fingered the rough patches of dried blood along her skin, the duct tape somewhat hindering her mobility. She hadn't even thought about her appearance when she and Bonnie had been running around Mystic Falls.

Her movements caught Kai's attention as he pulled the can from his lips. "Mm, you're up. Great timing once again, babe."

"So how long have you kept me knocked out?" she questioned dully. Her voice was hoarse.

"For two wonderful days, which were filled with complete solitude," he answered, smirking. "It was great not having to listen to you two: 'blah...blah…blah...Kai, you're a sociopath...blah blah being moral and self-righteous is so fun.' Not." He took another sip of the Coke then held the can out to her. "Thirsty?"

Skye hesitated before begrudgingly taking the can from his grasp awkwardly. She only took it because her mouth felt like it was stuffed with cotton.

She drank, feeling ridiculous and uncoordinated because of her taped hands, and Kai started slowing the car. She pulled the can from her mouth in alarm as Kai turned right onto a gravel road, one that lead into a forest. She craned her neck to look through the passenger window for a road sign, but did not find one. "Where are we going?"

"You'll see," he answered cryptically. She cast a look over her shoulder to be met with an empty backseat, and then felt ashamed as a new thought occurred, one she hadn't thought of before.

"Where's Bonnie?" she asked, worriedly.

"Relax," he said, chuckling at her tone. "She's in the trunk. Don't worry, she's tied up."

Skye exhaled loudly; she couldn't say she was surprised. "So how was I so lucky to be put up front?"

"I wanted the company," he shrugged, casual. "Now, I will put on some Hole if you stop asking questions. I know how you love your angry feminists."

She was ready to stop anyway, but Kai stayed true to his promise. For the next fifteen minutes, they listened to Courtney Love's harsh vocals as he drove deeper and deeper into the forest. Soon, the gravel gave way to a large dirt track, and it was only when Kai came to a stop a little distance away from two old, dilapidated brick gate posts, and the vast clearing that laid beyond that Skye realized where they were. His family's house, which meant they were outside of Portland. This turns of events actually did surprise her. She hadn't been here since the beginning of their incarceration, and she didn't think Kai had been here that much either in their time in the prison world.

Skye immediately stepped out from the car while Kai cut the engine, and headed to the trunk. Seeing the car in all it's hulking glory, she realized with some amazement it was the one Kai drove before he snapped. The one they had shared while they had lived together. He must've kept it safely in Portland. Of course he would take care of his car, she thought bitterly.

It only registered belatedly that she couldn't open the trunk, and she sighed. She waited impatiently as Kai leisurely made his way to the trunk with the key, a smug expression on his face.

He lifted the truck lid high. "Wakey, wakey."

Skye heard Bonnie made a disgruntled noise, and tried to peer in, but Kai blocked her way as he grasped Bonnie's arms, and hefted her out of the car onto her feet opposite them.

Her gaze darted around her unfamiliar surroundings, before her attention focused on Skye. "How did I-?"

Kai, leaning his hand on the upturned trunk lid, interrupted her, "Get so lucky to arrive here on a private flight piloted by yours truly?"

Bonnie looked as disoriented and confused as Skye felt at the moment. Skye opened her mouth to provide some reassurance, but Kai was still running his mouth.

"Oh, you would've been super impressed with my flying skills," Kai continued arrogantly. "But I had already knocked you out with pain killers." He reached into the truck again, retrieved his green bag, then threw it to the ground. Skye wondered if there were any more painkillers or syringes in there, and contemplated making a grab for it, but was distracted by Bonnie's question.

"Where are we?"

"Portland, Oregon," Kai replied. "Stomping grounds of Courtney Love, Tonya Harding,-" Apparently, Skye should've been paying more attention to Kai, who now held a switchblade. He released the blade, and turned towards Skye, "-and tons of other awesome people." He grabbed her left arm with his free hand, raising her bound wrists up in the air, and swiped the blade between them, severing the tape.

"Please," Skye snorted, as she flexed her sore wrists and rubbed them gingerly. His fingers lingered on her skin, causing a familiar tingle, but she quickly pulled her arm away. "You only think Tonya Harding's awesome because of the whole Nancy Kerrigan incident."

He had taken a step back and was now smiling mischievously, still keeping a tight grip on the knife. "Sometimes, babe, you just have to fight dirty to get what you want out of life."

"Oh, was that a Kai Parker original? Are you on par with Plato now?" Skye deadpanned, scowling. His smiled relaxed, but he had titled his head and his eyes were fixed on her intently, glinting wryly.

However, Bonnie seemed to have no clue what they were talking about and cut in, "You could've brought us anywhere in the world, and you took us to Portland?" Skye laughed at a little at the witch's unimpressed tone. Kai turned, and cut through Bonnie's binding more roughly and quickly. "This is where I grew up," he explained.

"Ow," she complained, grabbing her wrist in pain. Kai threw the tape remnants carelessly to the ground, where they landed on the backpack.

Kai propped his elbow on the trunk lid. "I've been counting eclipses since I was imprisoned on this empty planet, and according to my running tally, I've been here for 6, 771 supernaturally repeating days." Bonnie swayed, dropping to rest against the car. Skye stepped towards her in alarm, while Kai remained undisturbed. "So in the real world, which we'll never get back to because you sent your magic away in a teddy bear, today's my favorite day of the year," he finished with a small smile.

Skye paused, coming to a stop beside Bonnie as the witch resumed her upright position again with little difficulty, and questioned Kai, "And what day is that?"

"His birthday, probably," Skye said. He always made a big deal about it, even during their imprisonment.

"Nope, Thanksgiving," he informed, shutting the trunk. "I'm cooking you both dinner." He flicked the pointed end of the knife between them, before he turned and set off around the car, walking towards the brick gate posts.

Bonnie looked at her in bewilderment. Skye just shook her head, and headed towards the backpack Kai had left behind. "This is what he does; it's a cycle. Maim and brutalize then play nice," she explained. Lifting the bag, she was disappointed by how light it was. She was guessing it was empty, and she was completely right, she learned, as she swept its inside and various other pockets. "He thinks changing tactics will get him what he wants. Except-" she broke out, pausing to think. She didn't know where the other backpack was, and she hadn't seen it inside the car. Which meant it was probably in the now closed trunk they couldn't access, containing who knew what.

"Except we don't know what he's up to?" Bonnie finished for her. Skye nodded, pushing her hair back anxiously.

"Hurry up!" Kai called out across the distance. He had come to a stop right at the brick posts, the threshold to his yard.

"I guess we're gonna find out," Skye said. The girls fell in step with each other as they started towards where Kai was waiting for them impatiently, leant against a tree. He brought his black cuff bracelet up twice, in a exaggerated display of checking the time, but Skye knew the bracelet had no clock.

"Can he really fly a plane?" Bonnie asked, eyeing Kai suspiciously.

"One of us had to learn if we wanted to go to Europe," Skye responded then cringed. She didn't like to think about their time in Europe.

When they were close to him, he pushed off from the tree and finally walked past the brick structures into the yard. "Ahh, memories," he said, tinkering with the knife in his hands. Skye and Bonnie followed, a few feet behind. Skye noticed as he slipped the switchblade into his right pocket.

Before them stood the beautiful and big white house just as Skye remembered it, complete with blue accented doors and shutters. A pink bike thrown down in the yard, a toy cart and wooden rocking chair on the porch - its exterior gave off an aura of homeliness, but Skye knew the nightmarish interior didn't match.

Walking up the stairs of the porch, carefully and slowly, Kai spoke with nostalgia, "The pitter-patter of little siblings' feet. Witchy-woo chanting in the air. Mom and Dad calling me an abomination." Skye detected a slight hitch in Kai's delivery of the words, on 'abomination.'

She wondered for a small moment if the hitch was genuine.

"Why would you wanna come back here?" Bonnie inquired.

"'Cause I can finally show it to someone," he answered. Upon seeing Skye's baffled face, he added,"Someone other than Skye, because that really only lasted a day, and happened under very special circumstances."

"Plus, let's not forget the extenuating circumstances that followed," Skye interjected.

But Kai wasn't ready to acknowledge those circumstances, and so proceeded like she hadn't spoken, instead focusing on Bonnie. "My coven goes out of their way to make sure no finds us. But since they're not here to be paranoid freak shows-" he indicated behind him with a flourish of his arm, "Mi casa es su casa."

Bonnie glanced unsurely at Skye, but Skye's sickened gaze was fixed on Kai.

Biting his bottom lip, Kai waved them forward. "Come on," he encouraged excitedly before opening the creaking door.

Bonnie went in first, and Skye was not far behind. Skye immediately noticed Bonnie's slight flinch at the first patch of blood that greeted them in the dim and musty foyer-the smear on the side of the staircase. Skye's eyes darted to the other spots-the small splatter on the hardwood floor, then the big pool up ahead in the short hall. The long smear on the wall, then the red hand trail that traveled the length of the back door. Kai simply walked through; Skye watched as he dragged his hand along the wall smear, almost reverently.

She shuddered, and then took off up the stairs.

"Uh, where are you going?" Kai's voice came up through the stairwell. Skye didn't answer, only continued up to the second floor landing and worked quickly to sidestep more blood trails.

Reaching a closed door along the left hallway, she prayed it was a bathroom. It was, a small one. After turning the lock, she ran to the sink. She thought she might start hyperventilating any moment; it felt like she was returning to a scene of a recent crime. Because you are, she thought, even after 18 years. Finally seeing the state of her appearance in the mirror above the sink didn't help one bit. Her hair was matted, she was pale, there was a huge red stain peeking out from the collar of her flannel shirt. Instantly, Skye bent to pull open the cabinet doors under the sink, and grabbed a washrag she found there. She wet it, unbuttoned her shirt, and scrubbed at her skin until the faint traces of any blood were washed away down the sink, and her skin was red for a different reason, being rubbed raw. She scrubbed her face with a different washrag. She grimaced at the pink tank top, that was originally bright white. She bent her head under the spray of water, and wet her hair, combing her fingers through it. She dried the thick, sopping strands with a white towel she also found in the cabinet.

After her ministrations, Skye felt a little better, a little more refreshed and calmer. More clear-headed, and that's when she remembered she had selfishly left Bonnie alone with Kai.

"Shit," she whispered, and rushed to open the door. However, she was met with Kai's chest, and tried to back away. He grabbed her arms to stop her, but his touch was light, only minimally restraining her. She looked up in surprise, but Kai's face was expressionless, and he only seemed to be interested in scanning her face.

"Were you standing outside the door the whole time?" she asked.

"Nope, just got up here," he replied. "I thought I should check on you - I wouldn't want you going all 'Girl Interrupted' on us."

"Oh, I wouldn't dream of stealing your role, Mal," she said, pulling her arms out of his grip. "Don't pretend to care, you're not good at it, and I won't believe you anyway."

He let out a small laugh, and the corners of his mouth quirked up in amusement."You're right." But even as he said it, his hand reached up to tuck one of her wet tresses behind her ear. She didn't flinch or recoil, just focused on his quietly smoldering face, even as his hand drifted to rest on her cheek, his thumb tracing her cheekbone. "Bonnie was actually worried about you." His hand went to her chin, to hold her in place, and he seemed to gauge her reaction, or really the lack of one, before he leant down and brushed his lips against hers softly. Her eyes closed at the contact, but she refused to be affected by it, gritting her teeth. He pulled away a second later with a smirk, "But I know you're made of way stronger stuff." Her lips felt they had been branded red hot, matching the heat that had flared up in her body. The kiss itself was a mockery of gentleness and assurance, she wasn't sure why she had even allowed it to happen. Even as he was calling her strong, she didn't feel it, and perhaps that's why she didn't push him away.

"Come on," he said nonchalantly, already headed down the hallway to the landing. Skye followed slowly behind.

"I've already got our Thanksgiving spaghetti going. You're making garlic bread," he explained, as he sauntered down the stairs into the foyer, where she could hear the radio playing from the kitchen.

Going down the hall, however, Kai turned left down a different hallway, instead of right into the kitchen. She stopped by the end of the stairs, stupefied by the sight of the macabre blood prints. Kai appeared, a minute later, and strolled past, now carrying a bottle of wine. He didn't even spare her a glance as he went straight into the kitchen, and she heard him talking again. Poor Bonnie, she thought.

"Skye, get in here," he drawled loudly. Just as Skye crossed the threshold into the surprisingly small kitschy kitchen, Kai was snapping at Bonnie, "Don't touch that." He was behind the kitchen island and the stove which, Skye observed, had several pots and pans on its surface over lit burners.

The witch, seated at the table in the corner, held the boy's pager aloft, and snorted. "Your pager?" she asked. "Why?"

"He can be a little possessive," Skye told her, approaching the table and leaning against one of the chairs' back. "Kinda like a small child with his toys."

Bonnie smiled at her, but Skye also saw the concern her eyes. She gave her a small smile back to indicate her now calm, if somewhat unnerved, state of mind.

"Actually, because it's brand new, looks cool," Kai listed, putting a stray vegetable in his mouth. Chewing, and wiping his hand on a towel, he made his way over to the table. "And I don't want you to bust it," he finished, snatching the device from her grasp and winking at her. Bonnie let him, staring after him in astonishment as he walked back to the stove and hooked the pager to his waistband. She was probably, and understandably, flabbergasted at his weird flirtatiousness. Skye was entertained momentarily by her expression.

"Babe, can you please get started on the garlic bread?" he asked, while Bonnie floundered.

Skye sighed, loudly. "Since I've got nothing better to do, why not?" She was hungry too. She walked behind the island too, until she was in front of the cutting board where he had thoughtfully already cut up a baguette. Next, to the board was butter, a butter knife, and garlic seasoning powder. She picked up the knife and began spreading the butter on each slice of the bread.

Bonnie, in the next moment, seemed to come out of her shock. "Listen, Kai," she started. "My magic's gone. Which means we will be stuck here forever. Why don't we just divide the world in half and go our separate ways?"

"Ooo, that's a good idea, Bonnie," Skye chimed in. "We can take Europe. Kai, you can have Australia." He deserved to be living in the remotest continent, with the most deadly creatures. Kai glowered at her, before he put his attention back on Bonnie, who had nodded her enthusiastic agreement.

"I get it, Bonnie," he said, lifting a lid from a pot and letting steam escape. "I knocked you out, kidnapped you against your will. Can't you see I'm trying to apologize? Ask Skye, even she understands it's better to forgive and forget. Right, babe?" Skye had stopped spreading at the mention of her name, and was focused on giving Kai a dirty look as he glanced at her with a genuinely hopeful expression. His words had been darkly serious, his voice almost gravelly, a stark contrast to his usual caustically playful, lazy tone.

"I will never trust you, or like you, or enjoy your company for so much as one second," Bonnie told him vehemently. "And I know Skye doesn't either, at least not anymore. So just quit trying, just let us leave here unharmed." Skye admired the witch's bravery, but she wasn't so sure her request was going to be granted.

Kai went still at her words, and he seemed to be staring fixedly at a spot on the floor, his expression grim. "Fine," he said, replacing the lid on the pot before pulling the powder blue pot holder off his hand. "Can we at least have one last dinner conversation before my eternity of relative aloneness resumes?"

"So you agree?" Bonnie clarified. "One last dinner and then we peacefully go our separate ways?"

"In the spirit of Thanksgiving, I'll even let you take my car," Kai offered, his tone lighter and his profile, Skye saw from her periphery, was more relaxed and boyish.

Skye thought they should both be still wary of the sociopath, however, no matter how hard he kept up the pretense of cordiality and sincerity. Even if he let them leave today, he would find them again, no matter where they went.

"How can I help?" Bonnie asked cheerfully, smiling, having decided to trust his words, and reached for the wine bottle Kai had set on the table.

He smiled back. "I hope you like white wine, Bonnie," he said, as he shifted behind Skye, putting one hand on the small of her back. A hand that burnt through her shirt with its warmth. "It's Skye's favorite," he informed, opening a drawer beside her hip, and pulling out a corkscrew. As he walked the tool over to the witch, Skye, however, still couldn't shake the gnawing feeling of uneasiness.


	8. I Don't Even Recognize Your Face

Set during 6x08, "Fade Into You"

_Speak in tongues_

_I don't even recognize your face_

_Mirror on the wall_

_Tell me all the ways to stay away_

_Dig a hole_

_Fireworks exploding in my hands_

_If I could paint the sky_

_Would all the stars be shining bloody red?_

_Black out days_

_I don't recognize you anymore_

"Black Out Days" - Phantogram

 

May 9th, 1994

The inside of the Parker's remote residence was just as charming as the outside, decorated in shades of powder blue and white, light and airy. However, the reception inside the house by the rest of the Parker family was colder that the scene outside. Kai's last sibling, Eva, Skye remembered, a teenage girl with short dark hair and glasses, had her nose buried in a book in the living room and simply awarded them a passing glance before she volunteered to eat with Lucas and Olivia in the kitchen. This charitable action allowed Josette a break to eat with the rest of the family and their special guest in the dining room. The Parker patriarch had only greeted them stiffly and somewhat reluctantly, simply responding, "Malachai," to Kai's sarcastically forced, "Hi, dad!" and shaking Skye's hand, nodding silently to her nervous rambling, before making his way to the head of the table.

Skye was a little discouraged by Mr. Parker's behavior, but instantly brightened once again, courtesy of the the liveliness of the other family members around the table - which was large, oaken, and elegantly set, topped with steaming heaps of roasted chicken, potatoes, and greens. The kids chattered with their youthful effervescence, all wanting to talk over each other and share their stories with the new person in their space. Mrs. Parker was all polite smiles, and Jo was full of questions for her twin brother and his girlfriend and their plans for the summer.

Halfway through, Joey had asked his older brother for a second time if they could play a game of Dr. Mario. Kai answered the same way, "Maybe after lunch, buddy." Skye chuckled at Joey's eagerness while Kai changed the subject, looking at Josette, his excitement clearly evident in his tone. "So sissy, did you hear about that eclipse for tomorrow?"

The question seemed innocuous enough. However, the atmosphere of the room shifted as Josette blanched, and Mrs. Parker's fork fell to her plate with a clang. Skye's smile slowly faltered as she became confused by the women's reaction. Skye glanced to her right, at Kai, seated next to her, but his smile was wide and unconcerned.

"Malachai, we have a guest," Mrs. Parker reminded quietly. Her ever-present smile now became pinched as she glanced up at her husband, seated across from her at the other end of the long table. However, Mr. Parker was just as rigid as he had been since he first came to be in his eldest son's presence.

Kai shrugged. "It's just Skye. But back to that eclipse, wouldn't it be just the right event to say... perform a special birthday ritual under?"

"A birthday ritual?" Skye questioned curiously. "What does that entail?" She recalled him mentioning a birthday present in the car, not anything about a ritual.

"It's actually really cool, babe," he answered, turning to her. "It's called the Merge; it's a tradition in this family. It's a kind of competition, I guess. Only it would really suck to lose."

Skye's brow had slowly furrowed during his statement; she would've asked for more explanation had Mr. Parker not smacked the wooden table hard, rattling the glassware on the table, and snapped,"Malachai!" Skye startled, but no else in the room had even flinched. There was a moment of tense silence, in which the other Parker children fell very quiet and concentrated on staring at theirs plates, but kept eating like this kind of situation at the dinner table was typical. Although, Skye observed that Josette looked slightly sick, picking at her potatoes. Mr. Parker broke the silence with his next words,"We may discuss this matter alone after lunch. Now, there will be no more talk of it."

Kai opened his mouth once again, probably in protest, but was stopped by his mother's cautious plea. "Malachai, please."

Kai's shoulders hunched, and he focused moodily on his plate, sawing into his chicken more ruthlessly than before. Skye didn't really know how to react to the whole exchange, but it seemed to be a sore spot to the rest of the family. She was glad the subject was being dropped, no matter how much it upset Kai to do so.

"Skyler, remind me again. What was it you studied at school?" Mrs. Parker asked, a moment later.

"English Lit," she said quickly, eager to kill the thick tension that lingered.

Mrs. Parker nodded appreciatively. "Do you have a favorite period? Author?"

Skye searched and settled for what had been most recently taught to her. "Well, I did just finish a Shakespeare class, so he's on the forefront of my mind."

"Oh, good choice!"Mrs. Parker chirped. "Do you prefer the tragedies or comedies?"

Skye did not hesitate. "Oh, definitely the tragedies. Titus Andronicus is my favorite." She glanced over to Kai, expecting some kind of reaction. She remembered fondly when she told had him all about, arguably, Shakespeare's most violent and heinous play. How he had seized the opportunity almost instantaneously to devour it, and then a few days later, single-handedly recite it. She had laughed at his overwrought performance, and wondered, not for the first time, whether he should've studied drama instead of medicine.

But Kai still sulked, his lips pursed, smashing his green beans with his fork.

Skye reached her hand out under the table, towards his knee. She wanted to squeeze it, offer some type of comfort. Upon her touch, however, Kai jerked his leg away. Skye was reminded again, that instant, that Kai's parents really caused a different side of him to surface, one very distant to her.

Disheartened, Skye pulled her hand back and turned her attention back to Mrs. Parker as she shared her favorite Shakespeare play. "Mine's Romeo and Juliet. I love it's didactic quality. It really teaches a lesson about what could happen when kids don't listen to their parents," she said, her tone light and playful, directed teasingly at Nicoletta, Joseph, and Isaac, but her intention couldn't be clearer, honestly. Skye experienced a pang of discomfort at the pointed statement.

Thankfully, Josette chimed in with her favorite play, which was a comedy, Much Ado About Nothing, and the subject matter lightened, as the two oldest men at the table stewed in their respective silences.

When all plates were relatively clean, Mr. Parker stood, gruffly thanked his wife for lunch while she smiled graciously, and left the dining room.

Kai, wordlessly, with a stony face, soon stood and followed after him.

An hour later, Skye sat in the living room, waiting on Kai to emerge from the room he was enclosed in with his father. Earlier, at the table, she'd offered to help with the dishes, but Mrs. Parker had declined, telling her Jo and Eva were on top of it, but suggested instead if she could occupy the other kids while they cleaned.

Her eyes drifted from Olivia and Lucas at her feet, coloring with crayons on white sheets of paper, to the clock on the wall. In a half- hour, she and Kai were supposed to be on the road, headed to Salem to see her family.

Electronic music emanated from the television as Joey sat, cross-legged in front of it on the hardwood floor, playing on his Nintendo. His patience with waiting for Kai had lapsed thirty minutes ago. Skye could understand as she felt her own patience waning.

However, Isaac and Nicoletta had brought it on themselves to entertain and distract her while the other kids were occupied. Skye was enjoying herself and her interaction with Isaac who sat on her right, curled up with a Batman comic book, informing her of the "super" hero's merits while Skye played dumb. Nicoletta sat on her left; the younger girl had parted and began braiding part of Skye's long hair, apparently, as she put it, to practice her own French braiding; she wanted her pin straight hair to be wavy like Skye's. As she braided, and Isaac continued with his one-sided debate in a imperious Kai-like way that that had Skye grinning amusedly, the vicious slam of a door sounded. Skye looked left, through the living room's archway, to the foyer, to see Kai storm by, already out the front door with another jarring slam before she could even gingerly untangle her hair from Nicoletta's grip.

"Excuse me guys, I'll be right back," she promised them, as she stood.

"Hold it's place," Nicoletta urged frantically. "I'll finish it when you get back."

"Okay, sweetie," she said, bringing one hand up to keep the nearly done braid from unraveling. She vaguely heard Isaac's grumble, "I didn't even get to talk about the Bat Mobile."

She reached the front door, opening it to an empty yard. She sighed, she was hoping to catch Kai and calm him down. At least, from what she could see at a distance, the car was still parked on the dirt track.

"He'll won't be back for a few hours." Josette had come up behind her. Skye turned to her, noting her still rather pale complexion.

"So this happens a lot?" Skye asked, though it was more a statement.

Josette shrugged, "Only every time he's home. He always manages to upset Dad in some way. Then he always gets angry after they fight, storms out, and blows off steam in the woods. Punching trees, I guess. At least that's what he says when I ask him about the blood stains he usually comes back with on his hands and clothes. But last time he was here -"

"Christmas," Skye interrupted knowingly, absently. She was trying to remember the last time she had seen Kai this angry, if she even had. She knew he could throw some minor temper tantrums, but those were usually over petty matters like a newspaper critic's article which insisted Baywatch should be cancelled or her blasting Tears for Fears, regardless of the time of day. He could also pout and sullenly brood. When he was really angry, however, it was a cold fury -unnervingly calm and deadly and violent. Truthfully, it was only something she had the opportunity of witnessing in extreme situations like the one time some guy was being pushy towards her at a bar (the cops were called that night and so was an ambulance; he had drawn blood that night too) or like a few minutes before with the door slamming. It was never really directed at her that often, if at all, because she rarely did anything to incur it. If anything, he was always the one infuriating her. But she had never known him to isolate himself. It seemed to Skye that Kai normally wanted the object of his ire to know he was mad at them, whether mild or extreme.

"Yep, Christmas. He left in his car instead, and we didn't hear hear from him until I called him for our birthday."

"He came to my house," Skye told her quietly, slightly perturbed that they waited a full month to check on him. She was slowly understanding why Kai hated his parents and his home.

Jo gave her a small smile. "I figured. That's what I was hoping, anyway. You're different, and definitely someone my brother needs in his life."

Skye smiled back, but it was more a subconscious action, to save face. She was different, different to the toxic people who surrounded him apparently. She was perfectly content to stay apart of his life as well. She now just wanted to find Kai and leave this place, but he had made it impossible.

"I see Nicoletta got ahold of you," Josette said, stepping forward, fingering the strands of her own hair.

Skye huffed out a laugh, as she realized she was still holding the braid together. "She's very persuasive."

Five and a half hours passed, the sun was setting, and Kai was still AWOL. Skye had called her Mom the hour before to inform that they were running late, really late. When he showed up, he was getting an ear-full from her.

Mr. and Mrs. Parker left before dinner, profusely apologizing for their son's prolonged absence and that the fact that they had to leave for their long-planned "date night." Mr. Parker had simply shook her hand once again, and disappeared out of the door. Mrs. Parker had given her a hug, expressing a wish to see her again. She returned the sentiment with a strained smile.

Mrs. Parker designated Josette in charge. Skye watched as Mrs. Parker pressed a kiss to Jo's cheek, and her mind wandered back to that afternoon. How had she greeted Kai? She hadn't. She hadn't greeted the son she hadn't seen since Christmas.

Maybe Kai's impending ear-full would be more sympathetic than she had originally planned.

Another hour passed, in which she ate a less elaborate and formal dinner - grilled cheese and soup- with the Parker siblings. She had even managed to initiate and maintain a friendly exchange with the enigmatic Eva. Then it was movie time, Isaac loudly dominating the discussion on what they'd watch, when Kai chose to make his reappearance.

"Kai!" Joey called excitedly, being the first to notice. He clambered up, and ran to his older brother, who seemed rooted to the archway of the living room. "We were just gonna watch a movie. Can you pick the movie so Isaac will shut up?"

But Kai ignored him. His eyes found Skye's, whose had been fixed to him since Joey's exclamation. "Skye, you ready to go?" His face was stoic, his voice quiet. Empty. Devoid of emotion. His stance was taut... but his eyes, she noted, were restless, agitated. While he waited on her response, they darted over his siblings. At Joey, who had already shrugged off his older brother's lack of acknowledgement and recommenced his argument with Isaac, who still insisted the group watch Aladdin. The oldest girls had Olivia and Lucas on their laps, trying to settle down for the movie in the hopes they would fall asleep for the night.

"I guess," Skye said uncertainly, surprised at his haste. She stood, and glanced at Josette, who had moved to stand too, sliding Lucas off her lap onto the spot Skye had just vacated. She hugged Skye, giving her a big squeeze, which Skye tried to return half-heartedly. Jo started towards Kai, but he backed away and half-turned, his body angled towards the front door. Josette faltered, turning back to Skye, she flashed her a smile that more closely resembled a grimace. "Take care of him," she whispered before she sat back down. Skye nodded and bid goodbye to the other Parker children, before she made her way to Kai. He didn't even wait for her to reach him as he fled the house.

She waited until she had shut the door behind them to start in on him. "Hey, dickhead," she called, stomping down the stairs. "You're not even gonna say bye to your siblings?"

He stopped his rapid strides, and turned. She stopped her pursuit a few feet away. A muscle in his jaw was twitching, but not from anger. He appeared distressed. As she surveyed him, he took a deep, forfeiting breathe, then a step forward then a step back. Skye's own crossness was slowly turning into concern, as she moved closer to him. She had been expecting his wrath, not this indecisive display. He had obviously worked himself into some kind of anxious mood in the abundant time he'd spent in the woods, a mood he still hadn't come out.

"What's wrong, Kai?"

He snorted humorlessly, focused on the ground at his feet. His head came up again, but he stared at the house behind her. The unrest had left his eyes, replaced by a look of calculation.

"Kai?" she prompted impatiently.

Finally, he spoke, and it was with a voice that was very hushed and faraway, "What would you do if the one thing you've been preparing your whole life for was being taken away from you?"

"What kind of question is that? Is this about that birthday ritual thing at lunch?" she demanded, flummoxed.

He threw her a peeved look, then, in the next second, he lunged at her. She jumped at the suddenness, but he only took her face in his hands, and closed his eyes, drawing another deep breath. Her hands came up to grip his wrists, half-alarmed, half-apprehensive.

"It's hypothetical. Just answer it, please," he whispered.

She watched him draw more breaths as she contemplated his question, her eyes tracing his tight features and her thumbs stroking the inside of his wrist. She had never known Kai to get caught up in such hypotheticals, at least the one concerning his future, being as he was, a "live in the moment" kind of guy. Inane hypotheticals, usually related to pop-culture or unlikely real-life situations, she was more used to from him. And this question seemed just as harmless as all those, even though it obviously bothered him more personally.

"I guess, I wouldn't let it happen," she started slowly. "If it meant a lot to me, I would do anything in my power to make sure I achieved it." The advice was self-serving, but, and she was the first to admit, she was a selfish person. And so was Kai. And she reckoned, from what she observed today, he deserved to be selfish when it came to dealing with his parents, the people who treated him so indifferently, only acknowledging him to rebuke him and deny his interests.

A smirk appeared almost instantly on his face, and the weight resting heavily on his shoulders seem lightened.

"Nice answer, babe," he said, opening his eyes, dropping his hands. The blue-gray was now nearly completely black, and they held a gleam Skye had never been privy to, a look so baleful it was disarming to her and compelled her to drop his wrists. "I knew there was a reason I kept you around." The last part was a teasing remark, but there was something so harsh and just plain mean in the way he said it.

Skye's face contorted into a guarded expression. "What's that supposed to mean?" Her own tone, however, betrayed her mystification at his change in behavior.

His gaze penetrated her face, as he let her fret in discomfort. The menace was still shining brightly in his eyes, but it was joined by something else- a resolve. She got chills, and they had nothing to do with the slight breeze that blew in the night air.

"Kai," she said fearfully, transfixed by his face. This person wasn't Kai, it couldn't be - yet she was still calling him by his name.

She didn't see his hands moving to his waistband.

"It means-" Kai grabbed the back of her neck and pressed a hunting knife to her throat, "-you get to live."

She squealed, and struggled, attempting to draw away, mostly from the sharp blade, but also from him. But he tightened his grip, moving his fingers into her hair, entangling it, tugging painfully, digging his narrow fingers into her skull. "That is, as long as you're smart enough to not get in my way of course." She whimpered.

"Shhh, shhh," he hushed her. "I already know you're smart enough. But if you need more incentive, I can always drive to Salem after I'm through here."

"K-Kai," she stammered out, pleading, despite the shock and fear that seemed content to freeze her body and nearly her mind, as distantly and as if through a clouded daze, his intentions became clear to her.

" I don't want to hurt you, Skye." His admission was strangely sincere and solemn. It hurts now, she thought, distraught.

He continued, his voice transforming into something firmer and deadlier. "But I want to hurt the ones that have wronged me. You said it yourself, babe, just a few seconds ago. That I should do everything in my power to make sure I achieved what I wanted. Well, this is what's in my power. And what better way to hurt them then to take away the people they actually love?

"Speaking of, silly me, I forgot to say goodbye to my siblings," he grinned savagely. With that ominous statement, he withdrew the knife and his hand from his hair, and left Skye as she swayed on the lawn.

He had already closed the door behind him, when she managed to stagger up the stairs. The sound of the deadbolt lock echoed in her mind, long after Kai's devilish countenance had disappeared from view.

When the first scream rent the night air, her stomach lurched with cold, naked horror. She couldn't even tell who it belonged to, the girlish shriek, because it could be that of a girl or a young boy's, whose voice hadn't cracked yet. Skye registered Kai's voice as he... taunted them. It was when the screams and crashes and bangs would stop suddenly-those were the moments her legs would almost give out under her.

Bile rose in her throat, and in the next second, she was bent over the porch railing, expelling her dinner into the bushes.

Although, it was Skye's stark reality, the rest of the night played out like a dream, a bizarre nightmare. The kind in which one would wake with sleep paralysis - inescapable fear and terror that rendered one completely useless. She had woken, was beginning to realize just what and who Kai was, who and what he was choosing to become.

It was all disjointed and out of body, the moments that followed. She didn't feel like herself when she slowly crept around the wrap-around porch; it was strange how she stood at a the corner of the house, pressed flat against the wall, eyes closed tight, and waited until the sound of violently splashing water coming from the backyard pool abruptly stopped. The sound of his somehow familiar and unfamiliar voice drifting into the still night air, grumbling about his brother fighting back. The slam of the back door as he continued on his merry massacre.

Exactly six minutes later, the flash of blond hair and little toddler legs running, smacking into her as they turned the corner. She shushed them, looking into their big, glistening eyes. "Come on," she whispered, picking up Lucas hurriedly and pulling Olivia's wrist. "We're gonna find a better hiding place," she promised as she lead them into the woods behind the house.

Mr. Parker found them crouched behind a tree. With raised hand, he pried his children from her shaking form magically. It was the first time Skye had ever seen a witch perform his craft, but it wasn't the last time.

The second time happened in the darkness of the cellar the next day, the hot pressure squeezing her brain until white light encompassed everything.

*****************************************

Sitting down to a Thanksgiving spaghetti dinner with a witch and a sociopath was surreal, but it didn't even make the list of the top five weirdest things that had ever happened to Skye. Number five being, of course, finding out your boyfriend was a sociopath. Number four - discovering that said sociopathic boyfriend was also a witch, from a family of witches, who had a penchant for birthing twins and engaging in an archaic, magical tradition that required the sacrifice of the weaker one at age twenty-two. Number three had occurred more recently, and it was actually finding out a week ago why he was really been denied the Merge because he had the ability to siphon magic, which apparently made him an abomination in his family's eyes and therefore deemed unworthy. Number two involved having to listen as he ruthlessly murdered his own innocent siblings for having been denied the opportunity to participate in the aforementioned ritual. And, of course, the number one weirdest thing that ever happened to Skye was getting stuck in a 1994 time loop for eighteen years, repeating the same day over and over, in a world with no inhabitants - except for the sociopath that was the root cause of all the weirdest (read: most awful) things that had ever happened to her.

And now, as she sat at the table her and Bonnie had just finished setting with plates, forks, and wine glasses, watching him put the finishing touches on their meal, adding garnish with a delicacy he would only reserve for such an activity, did she feel her usually simmering loathing and resentment for him burn a little more intensely. Not to mention regret for their fateful meeting at the library that day in 1992.

It bothered Skye that she still couldn't figure out what Kai's aim was with this whole day. She knew with certainty that he had to have a particular motive in mind, one that was more sinister than cooking her and Bonnie dinner and giving them license to abandon him. He had to be harboring some aggression for their actions of late - Bonnie sending her magic away and Skye murdering him to facilitate an escape. Yet, here he was shooting them jovial glances as he filled their wine glasses.

When Kai was done imitating a world-class chef, and had finally settled in his intended spot at the table, they tucked into the aromatic meal quietly, that is until Kai predictably broke the silence.

"So is anyone gonna compliment me on my superb cooking skills?" he asked irritatingly.

Skye piped up instantly, "The pasta's overcooked." It actually wasn't. He had cooked it al dente.

"The garlic bread's good, though," Bonnie said, smiling at Skye from across the table.

"Aww, thanks, Bonnie," Skye responded, smiling back, before she glanced at Kai. His face was flat and downcast, but her eyes went down to his fork. His knuckles were white, he gripped the object so tightly. Skye felt some perverse satisfaction stir within her at the sight. It was nice to get under Kai's skin sometimes. They fell into silence again, the only sounds being the sound of their forks scraping their plates, and Kai's slurping of his noodles into his mouth.

A hour and a half later, and they were still eating. Well, Kai was. He had cut his last spaghetti noodle into minuscule pieces, carefully lifting each one into his mouth with an exaggerated air, letting out "Mmm" repeatedly and shamelessly. Bonnie had started shooting him annoyed looks and pointed ones at her, but Skye could only shrug helplessly back.

Finally, Bonnie took the initiative. "Really? You've been eating that same piece for forty-five minutes."

"Is it a crime to want to savor our last meal together?" he asked innocently while continuing to spear the other small pieces.

"We had Thanksgiving dinner with you," Bonnie levelled with him. "Now you keep up your end of the deal and give us your car keys." She held out her hand expectantly.

Kai finally put his fork down and looked at her. "I should probably teach you how the clutch works. It's finicky-"

"Kai," Skye interjected. "I know how to drive your car, remember?"

"Yeah, so quit stalling," Bonnie snapped, "And give me your keys."

"Fine, I'm stalling," he huffed, grabbed his wine glass, and finished it off. "But-" he started and Skye groaned. "Don't you wanna hear how my story ends?"

"She can obviously figure it-," Skye had started to grumble, but stopped abruptly when Kai's hand had found her knee under the table. Skye tensed, and he squeezed, gently. She shot him a suspicious look, but his attention was on Bonnie and vice-versa.

"I've read the newspaper," Bonnie informed him. "You murdered your siblings, and your coven sent you to live in this prison world." Then her eyes landed on Skye, with a small hint of doubt. "I'm not quite sure why Skye was sent here, though, if what she says is true, and she was just an innocent bystander."

"My family," he corrected before Skye could speak up, "sent us to this prison world." Kai actually looked sober for a moment. "My father," he continued, raising his eyebrows. "Great coven leader. Treated me like crap for twenty-two years and then locked me here." His voice carried that gravelly tone again. He paused momentarily then glanced at Skye, several emotions lurking underneath the surface, the clearest being regret. "Skye's only crime was loving me." She returned his stare steadily and tried to maintain neutrality at his words. He's feigning, she reminded herself. But his act told her something: he wanted on her good side. But for what purpose? He was also trying to sway Bonnie's opinion, but why? She was of no use to him anymore, so why was he trying?

Kai proceeded while Skye was pulled into her own reverie. "My father couldn't understand how that was possible. I guess, he figured she had to be bad, too...it was like his kids didn't even matter," he sighed, stroking his lips. "Coven always came first, no matter what." His gaze was now glued to the table, his expression grave, while Bonnie appeared suitably sympathetic, no doubt taken aback by his morose demeanor.

Skye was unfazed by his weighty declarations, having heard him complain plenty about his father both in and before the prison world. She had determined long ago that was where Kai had gotten his crazy from. And his regret over her unwitting complicity of his act didn't ring true to her because it wasn't even being said for her benefit, but for Bonnie's, to garner more sympathy. In fact, she would've felt completely unmoved by the monologue, in which Kai seemed to be simply making his case to Bonnie, had it not been for his thumb rhythmically stroking her knee.

Skye finally reached her hand down, and stilling his, pressed the ends of her fingers into the top of his hand hard, digging her long nails into his skin, raking them down quickly. He reacted immediately, snatching his hand back, but making no visible indication of his discomfort on his face. He was still putting on his "serious" show for Bonnie after all. She fervently [hoped] the scratch stung, perhaps even bleed, though she wondered if she should expect some retaliation in the not too distant future. The thought of his revenge, however, seemed less frightening to her now, because from here on out her life in the dismal prison world would be vastly different. She would have a decent friend in Bonnie, someone stable and sane who could stave off the utter loneliness (that could imprint itself, with a crushing force, into the marrow of your bones after just one week and make you desperate for any kind of contact. And in the second week, made you pray for death. That was why it was so easy to give into Kai when he eventually reappeared, whether he wanted to kiss or kill her). A friend who could help her fight against him, as Bonnie had proven several times she was capable of. A friend to be a good influence, as Kai had disingenuously pointed out in the cave.

"We get it," Skye said, standing. "Dads can be dicks. Bonnie, you ready to leave?" Bonnie stood too, but Kai held up his finger, halting them, tipping his chair backward, his signature smirk back full force.

"Not so fast, babe. Did you forget our long-standing arrangement? I cooked, which means you have to clean."

Skye scowled, "You mean our arrangement from eighteen years ago? Yeah, I don't think so."

She made to turn, following Bonnie who had already moved around the other side of the table during their exchange, but Kai grabbed her forearm. She resisted, pulling her arm back. Bonnie had stepped forward worriedly, but stopped when Kai released Skye's arm, chuckling good-naturedly, holding his hands up in surrender. "Now, that's not very fair of you both to leave me with the clean-up. I still wanted to chat with Bonnie, especially since I won't be seeing her for awhile. You, however, I know I will be seeing very soon."

She regarded him with exasperation and hostility, bristling at the implication of his statement. He only stared back, one eyebrow arched, one corner of his mouth faintly upturned. "Besides," he added. " The sooner you get it done, the sooner you can both leave."

"Fine," she said. She bent and started gathering their dirty plates and silverware. Like he said, it was probably better to humor him - quicker and easier than arguing anyway.

"Excellent," he said, standing. "Now, I'm gonna take Bonnie out, give her a tour of the grounds. I would hate for you guys to accuse me of being inhospitable."

Skye stiffened, pausing in her movements, her uneasiness returning again, but was grateful when Bonnie protested, "Not necessary. I can help Skye in here." She came forward to Skye's other side, grabbing the wine glasses.

"But I insist. Skye will be fine on her own," Kai told them, stuffing his hands in his pockets leaned in, almost conspiratorially. "It's magic-related. Nothing Skye would be interested in, but I figured you might."

Skye glanced at Bonnie, who was now eyeing Kai with suspicion, but also with a small hint of curiosity.

After a long moment of silence, Bonnie's curious side seemed to win out as she replied, "Fine." Kai smiled, headed towards the door. Bonnie turned, however stopping, when Skye reached out and grabbed Bonnie's arm.

"Bonnie," she warned. "Not a great idea."

Bonnie looked to her with determination and reassurance, lightly shaking off her grip. "I'll be fine. He gave his word. And going along with it will probably get us out of here faster."

Skye was appalled momentarily, wondering at her naivety. Besides, the witch didn't have her magic anymore - nothing to protect her. Skye thought maybe she had forgotten that fact.

"He's a sociopath, Bonnie," she reminded. "Words mean nothing to him. That's why he's constantly spouting them off."

"I can hear you," he said from his place in the doorway. He put a hand over his heart in a display of mock-hurt. "Feelings."

"Really, Skye," Bonnie insisted, "Just meet me outside when you're done."

Skye was reminded of that recklessness the witch had displayed earlier; she was starting to wonder if it was oftentimes wrongly perceived as bravery.

Maybe, you're just too cowardly, she thought. Bonnie walked to the door, where Kai held out his arm, signaling "ladies first."

"Wait," Skye called wildly.

Kai turned impatiently, in a "what now?" fashion while Bonnie paused. Skye came forward quickly, reaching out, she started patting Kai's chest. Her hands found their way to his sides and to his hips before bending to pat down his legs. Kai was watching her movements with a wry smile, his eyes glinting amusedly. "Babe, not in front of Bonnie," he joked. She reached into his pockets, one at a time, and took the items she had felt - the switchblade and keys. Kai's smile dimmed just a tiny bit, but enough to give her a thrill.

"Oh, I'll definitely meet you outside, Bonnie," she said, dangling the keys, causing them to audibly clink against each other.

Bonnie smirked at her for a second and then walked out of sight. Kai's face had now grown impassive and it was searing Skye, but she ignored him, tucking the confiscated items into her own pockets. She glanced up, meeting his eyes, daring him silently. He left after several moments, letting out a dark and almost bitter laugh.

Undisturbed, Skye turned her attention back to the dishes. She was used to Kai's ways, and she hoped that taking away the blade would mean deterring him from any harm he might have planned to both her and Bonnie. Kai was really nothing without weapons except an annoying pretty boy with daddy issues.

Washing quickly, she left the dishes in the rack to dry. He could put up his own dishes, and wash his own pots and pans. After all, he had used them cooking. She pulled the switchblade from her pocket and unsheathed it, headed to towards the kitchen archway. She was ready to use it if need be.

Reminding herself to ignore the bloodprints, she turned into the hallway. Only to be met with Kai's chest for the second time that day. She nearly jumped, but hurriedly composed herself, stepping back, the hand holding the knife twitching, before asking, "Is Bonnie waiting for me at the car?"

He smirked mysteriously, "You could say that." Backing up some more, and really observing, she noticed he was hiding something behind his back. Her heart stopped and she stared up cautiously at him.

Proudly, he pulled his hand from his back and presented her with a freshly bloodied hunting knife. "So I thought it was time we went from a Terrific Trio back to a Dynamic Duo," he deadpanned.

"What did you do to her?" The question came out so monotonously it frightened her more than the knife-wielding sociopath in front of her. She had been expecting something like this and she had allowed it to happen pretty easily.

"Something only mildly life-threatening," he reassured before he started his invasion of her space, as he was always apt to do. But this time, she was able to back away before he got too close to corner her and brought her own knife quickly.

He chortled, but stopped his advance and continued speaking like she wasn't holding him back at knifepoint. "Really, Skye, you would've admired my restraint, especially since I've wanted to do nothing more than rip her lungs out from the first moment you decided her life was more important than mine." The words dripped of nonchalance, but his expression was now dark, pinning her, eyes promising hell fire. He took a step forward, but she stayed where she was, swallowing harshly. "Frankly, I can't see why you like her so much. She's super judgemental. Quite boring. And I don't really like the person you are around her. You act like you're repulsed by the very idea of me."

She opened her mouth, but he threw up his hands, the knife flicking more blood on the walls, and put a stop to her words. "I know what you're gonna say: 'It's not an act, Mal.'" He performed an over-exaggerated, falsetto impression of her. "But, now... what was it you said earlier today- "

Then lightning quick, he had dropped his own knife, pushed her knife-bearing hand up against her chest, holding it there, the tip of the blade poised dangerously between them, and grabbed her waist with his free hand in an iron-clad grip, drawing her flush against him. He was trapping both of her arms this way. He drew his head back to look into her pale, upturned face, and carried on, "Oh, yeah, that I shouldn't pretend to care because I'm not good at it."

His mouth then went to her ear and his voice dropped to a whisper, "Well, babe, you shouldn't pretend that you don't care because you really suck at it. "

In reply, she quickly wrenched the hand holding the switchblade up, escaping his loosened grasp, and pressed the blade to his throat.

Frustratingly, he only leaned back a bit and snicked, even as the blade followed his movements. "We both know you don't like to hurt me. I mean, you've killed me, what-? A very small fraction compared to the number of times I've hurt and killed you. And I always wake back up with a moist, snot and tear stained shirt."

He was right, of course. But it didn't mean that she wouldn't. She would wait for a moment he wouldn't expect it so she knew her best chance was to distract him with words, he never could resist a good verbal sparring.

"A lot can change in a short amount of time," she said. "We both know that better than anyone, Kai."

"So? We also both know that nothing can change in a long amount of time," he retorted. He gesticulated with one arm widely to the bloodied hallway around them. "Exhibit A."

His eyes bore into hers, daring her cockily, his arms still caging her, all the while thinking he knew how she felt about him. So self-assured, so incorrigible.

That's why she didn't feel bad, maybe even a little pleasure, as she brought the switchblade down and sunk it into his shoulder, before he had time to flinch. Reflexively, his hold gave and she darted around him while he cursed and hissed in pain.

Skye made it through the front door, and had just barely glimpsed Bonnie as she laid out on the lawn near a tree stump, unconscious, a red stain blooming once again, before she was being dragged back into the house.

Skye hadn't even heard the incantation he muttered, and she wasn't able to keep ahold of the door's edge, pried away easily by the unfightable magic. Flung against the wall that supported the staircase with a wave of his hand, her limbs further immobilized, a coldly irate Kai instantly hovered over her, and she was shocked to her core. His left shoulder now sported a patch of blood, and Skye kept her eyes focussed there while she couldn't help but to ask him a little breathlessly, "Where the hell did you get magic?"

"Oh, it's the funniest story," he began, his tone dry and controlled, but held a dark undercurrent that told her the story was anything but. "When Bonnie decided to be all predictable and self-sacrificing, but also like incredibly stupid, she sent her teddy bear away, filled with her magic as you already know." His hands shot up, one came to rest on her neck loosely, but the other gripped her jaw, tightly, pressing his fingers roughly into the bone. He was all about prodding her bones. He laughed lowly, as if he had heard her thought. She flinched away from the touch, straining her neck, but he forced her jaw back around until she met his eyes. If they held hellfire before, that fire had engulfed everything in its path and was now ashy nothingness. A shiver traveled down her spine. "But it got me thinking about that night, you know. I was searching for those brats, and I went outside to find my sister out by that tree stump. I always wondered what the hell she was doing by it. Well she had taken that knife right there," he paused to point his index finger, simply lifting it from the flesh of her check for a moment, at the dirty hunting knife, on the floor at their feet, "and put her magic in it, and hid it. So sneaky. So dumb." He released a short guffaw. "But it was effective, I suppose, in hindsight. Anyway, I figured it still had to be there in this dimension, still filled with delectable magic."

"So you could've come here by yourself and got the knife! You didn't need to kidnap us, and you certainly didn't need to stab her." Skye was nearly screeching by the end of the statement. She wished she could move, so she could knee him in the groin. Elbow him in the eye, hurt him somehow to assuage her own grief and vexation.

"But I needed her blood," he said, as if she was thick-headed. He removed the hand from her jaw, then slipped into his pocket, drawing out a small glass vile filled with red liquid. Skye decided she wouldn't attempt speech anymore; she didn't want to miss his, no doubt insane, explanation. "Which I could've taken anytime, while in Mystic Falls, and I would've had everything I needed to get home. But I had a moment of weakness and wanted to be generous." He returned the vile back to its safe place, and his hand went right back to her jaw. "See, I was willing to give you both this one last opportunity to prove to me that you were worthy to tag along for the ride." His voice dropped, turning cruel and husky, his grip tightening for one insufferable second. "But I've got to admit, Skye, I didn't like my results. It was a test, you both failed. But it's okay." He lowered his face closer to hers, his breath falling onto her lips. The hand that clutched her face came up, and fingertips slowly and delicately danced across her cheekbone, an act of quasi-comfort. Skye refused to even make a sound now, as weary as she was - of fighting, of trying. Whatever he was gonna do, he would do to her, and there was nothing she could do in this position to stop him. Completely defeated and depleted of energy or will, she was ready to give up and bawl. She barely heard his next words as she concentrated on suppressing tears. "Bonnie will reap the consequences for the both of you because, while you're still disappointing me, life's dull without you, Skyler." Stealing another small kiss that day from her lips as she tried to cringe away, he whispered, "Say goodnight, babe. Phasmatos Somnus." She crumpled, fast asleep. He caught her before she tipped down to the floor, and kicked the knife aside.

Skye would come around once they reached present day, Kai was certain of it. Just get her away from the Bennett witch and she'll be back to old self, the one that didn't fight him as much, the one that didn't pretend to hate him so much. She would soon see and understand that her compliance was going to be very valuable to him, as well as to herself. And that it would erase the chaotic burning sensation that sprung up in his chest the moment she had stood to leave with Bonnie- it had to. Otherwise, he didn't think he could keep it in check, and he might do something to her he'd regret, something that would stay permanent in the real world. She just needs to cooperate, he insisted to himself, because cooperation is key to working as a team. And they, Kai and Skye,were a team, they alway had been, even if he was the one spearheading most of their...projects.

He scooped her up into his arms, his fingers subconsciously curling into the hair draped on her shoulder, as he pressed her close to his body. He walked her down the porch stairs, pass the witch laid out in the yard, until he reached the car and deposited her in the front seat, in the same position she had been in during the last unconscious ride.

He hoped she would stop being so rebellious sooner than later, so he could stop knocking her out, and his strained back could recover from all the transporting of the dead weight of late.

Kai got into the driver's seat and turned the engine on, mentally tallying off the items on his list. Next came finding a good spot locally where the eclipse was focused. The magic now thrumming in his veins stirred with anticipation. After that came finding a place he and Skye could wait out the rest of the day and the night till the next day's eclipse, preferably a place with a phone. I have one last page to make, Kai thought, unable to pass up the opportunity to taunt the irksome witch, that he was more than happy to be able to finally leave behind, one last time.


	9. To a Place Where No One's Seen Us Before

Set during 6x09, "I Alone"

_I want to be bad_

_I want to destroy you_

_I want to move fast_

_I want all the attention_

_I'm thinking we should ride_

_To a place that we don't know_

_To a place where no one's seen us before_

_I'm thinking, you and I_

_Better just go with the flow_

_Last thing that we should do is go slow_

_I think to be thoughtful_

_I know that I'm not_

_You think I'm a fake_

_And I know you're a fraud_

_I fuck 'cause I need to_

_I fuck when I want_

_I'll fuck you in love_

_Even though it is not_

_I'll fucking digest you_

_One kiss at a time_

_You wish I was yours_

_And I hope that you're mine._

_"Lurk"-The Neighbourhood_

Chapter 9 - To a Place Where No One's Seen Us Before

May 10, 1994

The knocking - loud and insistent - and his yells of her name was what enticed Skye to open the door that day. If his intentions were nefarious, he wouldn't have bothered with such courtesies. He would sneak in, lurk around, try to catch her off guard, like he had done a million times before.

"What do you want, Kai?" was the first sentence out of her mouth after she opened the door, barely a foot. Just wide enough to see him as he stood, grinning, with his hands behind his back - which caused her to become suspicious.

"Happy Birthday!" he said cheerfully, by way of greeting. She stared at him with narrowed eyes for a long moment, assessing. His eyes were filled with mischief, his grin too bright for her liking.

"Sure it is," she said dismissively, and made to close the door. But Kai stuck his foot in the way, preventing her.

"Truce, remember?" he reminded. She remembered. For holidays and birthdays, they called a truce. They weren't supposed to hurt each other, and they were supposed to properly celebrate whatever the occasion was. It was an arrangement that he first proposed. Why? She didn't know; she guessed he was overcome by his own loneliness sometimes, and possibly wanted to ensure a civil encounter between the two of them could be had every so often. So far, it was an agreement that Kai actually upheld, to her immense surprise.

"I don't give a shit about the truce, Kai. Or my birthday, for that matter."

Skye grew to hate the arrangement. She hated how it was the only way Kai could find it in himself to behave amicably to her. She hated where it usually led between them because of said amicable behavior. She hated that it reminded her of the passage of time, outside of this hell. It reminded her that she was stuck, in every way...it was a different type of torture Kai was unwittingly inflicting. And she couldn't even be sure the act was all that unwitting on his part.

"But I got your favorites!" he sang, finally bringing his arms forward, from out behind his back. Plastic grocery bags dangled from his hands, seemingly stuffed to the brim.

"Plus," Kai continued, forcing his way through the door and past her. "It's only fair since you skipped mine this year."

"I don't obsessively keep track of the days," she told him, feeling only slightly guilty and hating herself for feeling that way. She followed him as he darted down the hall and into the kitchen. "That's your job."

She watched as he set the bags on the counter and started rummaging through the cabinets and drawers. He pulled out plates, glasses, and utensils, and set them beside his merchandise. She tensed when he grabbed a steak knife next, and he caught her anxious expression.

"Relax," he chastised, rolling his eyes. "Truce, remember?" he repeated, shooting her a charming smile.

She didn't relax. Just because he hadn't ever broken it didn't mean he still couldn't at any time, especially if she forgot his birthday just three months before.

"So Iowa?" he began curiously, gesturing at the window, to the green fields surrounding the farm house they were settled in almost every direction. "Really?"

"What about it?" she asked, tiredly.

"Nothing, I guess. Which is exactly the problem. I know nothing about this place, except that's it's the Home of the Hoosiers, whatever that means."

"That's Indiana."

"Same difference," he shrugged. He started unpacking the grocery bags. "I just don't get why you can't pick a cooler place. Like some place sunny. California's really nice this time of year." He let out a chuckle. It was always funny to him to joke about time, though it always failed to amuse Skye. He pushed on, disregarding her lack of reaction. "You could get a Star Map. Explore celebrities' houses. I've already checked out Bill Murray's house. Gotta admit, though, not as cool as I'd thought it'd be."

Skye had a thing for the Midwest, because it had a strong, fast-moving storm system pass through it on May 10th, 1994. It was as dreary and depressing, but it matched her state of mind in this dimension. Oftentimes, it would get so chaotic and violent, she dreamed it had the potential to rip the prison world apart. No such luck.

Also, the Midwest was nice to settle if one wanted to avoid big cities. They were too empty and eerie for her. At least the country was supposed to be solitary.

Several items now littered the counter top, as Kai finished unpacking. Two large bottles of Jack Daniels, a box of Red Velvet cupcakes, a CD, two VHS tapes, a box of popcorn, and a small box wrapped neatly in blue and white striped paper, with a big, blue bow on top.

She reached for the CD and VHS tapes: the Beatles's White Album, The Karate Kid and the Karate Kid 2. He had really brought her favorites. She really did try to fight the rueful smile that broke out across her face, as she gazed down at the items.

Kai observed her, smirking in triumph.

"So phase one of celebration," he said, twisting the caps off the whiskey bottles, and handing one to her. The mischief was back full force in his eyes, she noticed. "Drinking early so everything else we do tonight actually seems fun. Anyway, here's to your birth and hopefully no inhibitions for the rest of the night," he toasted, clinking the neck of his bottle against her. He took a healthy swig, and she followed, finally ready to relax for once. Both soon let out a string of coughs, and then laughs. He took the CD and tapes from her and walked to the living room, with his bottle still in one hand.

A few minutes later, after waiting impatiently for some type of acknowledgment and sipping from her own bottle, she heard the opening notes to The Beatles's "Happy Birthday." Shaking her head, she laughed, and left the kitchen to join him.

Several hours later, and their bottles were half gone. The storm had blown in, the rain pelting the roof, the wind howling, and the lightning illuminating the semi-darkness. However, Skye, stretched out on the couch with her feet in Kai's lap and her back against an arm rest (a position he had first tried to presume on her at the beginning of the movie. He failed when she promptly shoved them off), and Kai, slouched down into the cushions of the worn couch, were oblivious, as entranced as they were by The Karate Kid.

"I wonder what Ralph Macchio looks like now," Skye wondered. "Do you think he's still cute?"

"Please, you think that wimp's attractive?" Kai scoffed, around a handful of popcorn he'd just shoved in his mouth.

"Well, he's certainly more attractive than that display was," she quipped, digging her foot against his thigh playfully. He grabbed her ankle in a tight grip , then dragged his fingertips down the bridge of her foot, causing a slight tingling to break out on the spot.

She pulled her feet away like he had burnt her, and sat up straight against the backrest, tucking her feet underneath her, as she tried to act nonchalantly. "How old you think he is now?"

Kai stayed quiet for a moment, his face mulish. Then, "Don't know, don't particularly care, oddly enough. I've only calculated our ages. Thirty-one, by the way, in case you wanted to know."

She groaned. "Kai, you know that I don't want to know." Nine years, god.

"Which is precisely why I told you." He looked over at her, and smirked, before taking a long drag from his bottle.

Skye responded by taking a longer drag from her own bottle, not really wanting to think about the new information.

He rose, then, stumbling slightly, and came back a minute later with the box of cupcakes, the knife, and the gift that she still had yet to unwrap.

"Cupcake time," he said with excitement. He used the knife to break the plastic seal on the cupcake box. He sat back down, handing her one while he kept two for himself.

"Thanks," she muttered. He was too busy stuffing his mouth with cupcakes to reply.

She ate hers quickly too, washing it down with some more whiskey. The burn of it was now comforting.

Once he was done, he gave her the present next. She carefully unwrapped it, with some distrust, hoping for a normal gift, but not completely trusting Kai to deliver. It was a brand new Polaroid camera, still in the box. She stared, bemused.

"It's supposed to come with batteries and film," he informed absently, his eyes glued to the screen.

"Uh, thanks?" she said.

"After all I went through to get that - three different stores, standing in line with bratty kids running around me and crying, dealing with passive- aggressive sales associates, - and all I get is an 'uh, thanks?'? Really, babe?" he asked sarcastically.

"You're delusional," Skye said, giving him a strange look. He shrugged impassively. "While I appreciate the thought, Kai, I don't believe I really have all that much to document."

"Not with that attitude," he chided. He picked up the knife, and slashed the tape on the box.

He prepared the camera while she refocused on the movie and trying to finish off her bottle.

Soon, he was snapping pictures of the ceramic roosters on the end table and showing them off, calling it "art."She giggled at his antics, with the giddiness of somebody thoroughly buzzed.

Thirty minutes later, she was officially drunk, and uninhibited, like Kai had hoped for during the toast, and Daniel-San was only just beginning his training montage.

Skye was staring at him, not at Ralph Macchio, but at Kai. At the chain under the collar of his T-shirt with the dragon pendant she had given him the first time they had celebrated his birthday as a couple, when they had been dating. She stared next at his handsome profile. Ugh, he had such a perfect nose, a slight curve that ended in a unobtrusive point. High cheekbones, defined jaw, strong brows, full lips. Girl lashes.

It was wrong for a predator to be so attractive, but such was the order of the animal hierarchy. It was wrong that she was still affected by it, even after all this time and all the heinous things he had done to her. If she was sober, she wouldn't even be entertaining these thoughts.

His eyes slid over to her, almost as he felt her examination. The look on his face stopped her breath. His gaze was heated, and his eyes hooded.

"Don't look at me like that," she blurted. He continued to look at her like that. Even started to bite his lip as he gave her once over, and moved as if to get closer.

"Don't you dare get any closer either," she warned, holding a halting hand out in his direction, completely serious until she ruined the illusion by releasing a wide, comical yawn. He stopped, trying to stifle his chortle, noting the sleepiness quality of her voice.

But, minutes later, she was leaning towards him, tipping over in her intoxication, her over-heated skin pressed against his. He thought back to his reception that day at the front door - she had been wearing a tank top and her hair had been hastily pulled back into a bun that rested at the base of her neck. Obviously not expecting company.

He reached out to her exposed shoulder, his fingertips tracing the tiny, black script that cascaded down the length of the skin there until it disappeared behind the fabric, his sharp eyes scanning each individual word.

_I wanted to be with you alone_

_and talk about the weather_

_But traditions I can trace against the child in your face_

_Won't escape my attention_

_You keep your distance with a system of touch_

_And gentle persuasion_

_The rest was hidden, but he completed the passage in his head:_

_I'm lost in admiration_

_Could I need you this much?_

He recalled the day she brought up the idea of the tattoo to him, had eagerly presented him with the pad of paper she had written the lyrics out on and talked of her plan to have them etched permanently on her skin. How he had been hesitant to agree that the idea was "awesome" and to match her level of excitement - thinking scars, cuts, bruises were much more organic and honest. They were a much acceptable and cooler way to mar one's own skin, in his opinion - they told stories just as well as ink could. But he didn't share those thoughts with her; she didn't know the extent of his corrupted nature back then.

He attempted to talk her out of the song choice at least, finding it sappy and cliche. But she was steadfast in her resolve to get the tattoo and on the song.

"How in the hell could you even like a Tears for Fears's song that much?" he had demanded, "Please, explain it to me, babe. I'm absolutely baffled." She'd claimed it was for the eloquence of the lyrics. However, he couldn't help but be paranoid that she connected the words to him. Whenever he would press the issue and express that particular concern, Skye would deny it, usually in one of three declarations intermittently:

"It's for me, not you, Kai."

"I just like it, Kai. It's poetic."

"Are you the sun, Kai? No? Good, because then you must know that the world doesn't revolve around you."

And then came the day she went to get the tattoo, and he had reluctantly accompanied her, eyeing the seedy establishment with ill-disguised disdain and the tattoo artist's hands on her partially-bared body with open hostility.

"I remember when you got this," he murmured to her now. "I thought for sure you were gonna cry, beg me to hold your hand. But you didn't. You didn't even bat an eye... I was weirdly proud of you that day."

Of course, his girl could endure a little pain. The only evidence of her discomfort was the sweat that had broken out on her brow. But the thought of her sheen that day brought up to the forefront of his mind other situations where she could break a sweat.

He glanced at her face, noticing her drooping eyes.

His touch and voice undoubtedly lulling to her alcohol-depressed brain.

He watched, with slight disappointment, as she succumbed to sleep, her features relaxing.

Now he remembered: wine and whiskey made her sleepy, tequila and vodka made her frisky. Oh well. He supposed he needed some sleep, too. He could extend their celebration into tomorrow.

Turning to the end table, he picked up the Polaroid camera. He snapped a few Polaroids of her, of her pretty, heart-shaped face turned towards him in her sleep, hoping the bright flash wouldn't disturb her slumber. It didn't and neither did the loud sound of the songs of the movie's credits playing in the background

He placed the camera back, set the new pictures next to it, and then switched the television off with the remote. He pulled her body forward by her shoulders to the edge of the couch cushion, not before stretching out his own body down the length of the couch. Somehow, he managed to maneuver them into a spooning position. He was the big spoon, of course. They could both rest more comfortably this way. Pressed snugly against her back, his nose buried into her citrus scented hair, he sighed. It wasn't exactly how he imagined the night ending, but it was close enough. He soon too succumbed to his own alcohol-aided exhaustion, though his bottle was still half full.

Skye awoke suddenly to see the weak, gray streaks of the dawn sky through the windows.

Her head was pounding, and her body was overheated, courtesy of the other body wrapped around her.

After carefully prying Kai's arms from around her waist and disengaging her legs, she tumbled from the edge of the couch and onto the floor on all fours.

"Ow," she grumbled when her knees met the hard wood. The motion also had her feeling nauseous.

When she could manage to stand, she caught sight of the Polaroids on the end table. She picked them up, and flipped through the new ones of her sleeping form.

"So a voyeur on top of a murderer - charming." Her tone was scathing, but she was smiling as she studied the picture.

"Apparently, your perversion know no bounds, Mal," she told him, almost fondly, as she turned towards the voyeur, who was now sprawled on his back.

Although, she knew soon he'd wake up and immediately begin to cook her breakfast. Probably bacon and eggs. Then he'd try and worm his way into her routine over the next few days, making himself at home. Harass her to put down her book and spend time with him. Usually, it would be a month before she'd let him share her bed, though not for his lack of trying. Then he would drag her from the farmhouse, and drive at breakneck speeds through the whole state of Iowa. Now, with the Polaroid camera, he'd probably make her take useless pictures of landmarks and such, for her to only discard later with a grimace.

Then after roughly five more months, (right when she was beginning to hope maybe this time would be different) she would probably wake one morning to find a pillow over her face. Of all the way he'd killed her so far, and there were plenty for he had a great imagination, he still had yet to try smothering.

Then she'd revive, sometimes he'd be gone. Sometimes, he would only be starting. But she trumped down that train of thought in favor of watching him sleep, observing the rise and fall of his chest, his smooth face, indulging in her own voyeuristic actions.

He was vulnerable, human this way. The image combated the inhuman things he also was - a witch and a sociopath. In this state, he was completely at her mercy for a change. Unlike him, however, she would never take advantage of it. She simply just wanted to appreciate it, to file away for a day when his shadow loomed threateningly over her and made him seem larger than life.

She grabbed the camera and snapped her own Polaroid, wanting to preserve the moment, keep it close to her heart.

********************************

God, were his muscle going to ache later.

At the moment, they were numb after having shook with exertion.

"You should really be thanking me," Kai told the unconscious girl he was once again carrying in his arms, as he carefully traversed the cave just a few miles from his house. The cave he spelunked as a kid, when he ran away into the forest. The cave's low-hanging mouth was nestled into a ravine - the darkness that was home to all the creepy crawlies and bats he had more in common with than his own family. A place now silent, except for the sound of dripping water.

"Don't worry. I'm working on a list right now of all the ways you can show me your gratitude once we're there."

He didn't want to slip on any moisture that had collected on the cave floor, to send them both toppling was just too inconvenient right now, especially now he felt like he was going to drop her at any minute. He desperately wanted to , but they were almost to the spot where he had spent all night digging a hole through the surface of the ground above, an act that began the initial taxing on his muscles.

Getting home, while the concept was really simple, despite the others over-complicating the situation, also required some hard work, but he didn't shy away from it because, now, the eclipse's brilliant light could now shine down brightly down on them and he could ironically shout, "Praise Jesus, hallelujah!"

When morning came, he'd returned to the cabin he left Skye to rest in, just miles away from the cave in the opposite direction of his house. She had still been asleep, and it seemed like, as he observed the interior just as he had left it, she hadn't come awake in his absence.

That marked the moment he started worrying slightly about the potency of the Knock Out Spell he had cast on her. He had gone so long without magic, his casting and memory might've been a little rusty. And he wasn't well-versed in Revival Spells or Waking Spells, having never regarded them as useful to him.

But her breathing and pulse was steady, so he took that as a good sign.

Now, Kai strengthen his hold on Skye, his muscles burning in protest.

He supposed he could've levitated her. But he didn't want to waste the rest of the precious, unfortunately very finite, magic buzzing in him, like it was alive and itching to be released. He'd already sacrificed some of it to heal his shoulder, to fix the puncture wound Skye had inflicted on him.

He really should've expected it, but he had been too wrapped up in his excitement for their imminent return.

He studied her features, with admiration. The long hair that hung limply, like a curtain that fluttered against his arms. The mole above her lips, the target for all his almost kisses, the kind he used to taunt her because they still made her breath hitch. Her closed eyelids that hid the brown eyes that grew impossibly darker when she glared at him.

Yeah, it was probably for the best if she stays unconscious until we're in the present time, he thought, not wanting to attempt another battle with her.

The narrow passage he had been trekking opened to a vast cavern. Light from the circle in the ceiling filtered down, creating a ring of light similar to the one in the Mystic Falls cave.

Kai laid Skye down gently in the middle of the circle, taking a seat beside her. He pulled the heavy backpack from his back and pulled the Ascendant from the front pocket. Next, he pulled the vile of Bonnie's blood from his pocket and poured it over the center of the device. He placed the backpack on his back once again, but not before rechecking its contents - CDs, most of his, though he left a few from Skye's collection, just the ones he could stand. The bundles of money were still intact, shoved next the CDs, and some other provisions.

He propped Skye into a sitting position and adjusted her until she rested between his legs, against his chest, keeping her upright with his arm around her. His other hand gingerly picked up and held the Ascendant from the bottom. He glanced up to find the Moon's and the Sun's paths ready to cross.

Two more minutes, and he would finally be liberated. Jeez, was he ready. Frankly, it was eighteen years overdue.

Kai wanted to shed this place from his life and memory like a snake would its skin, ready to begin anew, stronger and sleeker.

Full of vengeance, ready to strike at its prey.

The feeling of vindication and absurd, dizzy glee was almost overwhelming, almost something tangible he didn't believe he was able to contain.

"Almost there, babe," he whispered, the elation evident in his tone. He chanted when the bright light above him darkened, remembering the Latin words Bonnie had spoken, twice in the other cavern."Sangina Mearma, Ascendarum Cavea."

Kai almost couldn't believe it when the white light descended, and then he and Skye were swept up.

It was like jumping in a pool, except backwards. His eyes were closed, he heard a muffled swooshing, felt a weightlessness. It was definitely less painful then the spell that had imprisoned them there.

They landed on their backs with a hard impact, however. Enough to knock the wind of him, especially since Skye had ended up on top of him, and prevented him from opening his eyes right away. Not the mention the plastic CD cases digging uncomfortably into his back through the material of the backpack; he hoped he didn't break them.

When he did open his eyes, he saw yellow. When he brushed Skye's hair away from his face, he comprehended their surroundings.

They were in the forest clearing - he just knew - where his coven had tricked him, where Jo had betrayed and deceived him, where his father had banished him into the very prison world he had just escaped. The treetops were half-bare; brown, red, and yellow leaves still clung on stubbornly to some branches.

It was autumn, and they were home.

A loud laugh escaped him, full of disbelief and exhilaration.

Kai sat up. Skye was still unconscious, somehow, and she slumped down to the ground. Wow, if inter-dimensional travel wasn't enough to revive her, he honestly didn't know what would at this point.

He left her laying while he stood shakily to his feet. If he strained his eyes, he could hear the tell-tale sounds of traffic on the highway nearby. He never thought he could or would miss such a sound.

Best of all, he still had some magic left.

"Skye," he said. "Be back in a flash, literally. God, I love magic."

Smirking, he closed his eyes, and searched his mental vault again for the next spells, which he performed with proficiency.

When he opened his eyes this time, he was standing in front of his house. He noticed the small changes - the paint was weathered, the lawn free of toys. Hell, it even looked lonelier somehow. The thought caused a dark smile to take up residence on his face.

Kai walked to the trusty tree stump and riffled through the dead leaves, coming up empty. Great. Maybe, Jo had come and retrieved it. That would make definitely make his plan easier. Maybe his father had destroyed it. Possible, but his gut told him differently. Maybe a third party had gotten involved. Kai sneered, thinking of Damon. He definitely seemed like the nosy type.

Kai stalked to the front door, and stepped in. The inside was different, too. Of course, gone were the blood stains. Some decorations had changed. For instance, the framed photographs of him, which weren't many to begin with, were also gone.

His father was upstairs, he could hear him talking and walking above, as the floor creaked. He wondered briefly if they're was someone else in the house, but the conversation appeared one-sided. He must've been on the phone.

He wouldn't be able to see Kai anyway.

He entertained the thought of making his invisible presence known to the older man, in only the most dramatic and violent manner - viciously and repeatedly smashing his skull against the nearest wall.

But that would rob Kai of the extreme satisfaction he imagined would accompany the moment he would face Joshua as the newly minted leader of the Gemini.

Kai went to his Dad's office. Unsurprising to see it was exactly that same as it had been that day - the day his life was ruined, the day he decided to ruin every one else's.

He ransacked the desk drawers quietly, searching for the knife and other magical artifacts. It was probably prudent to find the Ascendant's duplicate, so he could keep it in his possession, and therefore couldn't be used against him. But to his disappointment, he didn't find either item.

Instead, he came across his siblings' coven rings - all silver, varying in size and style. They were specially designed, engraved with the Gemini coven insignia and motto. Well, they would've been their rings if they had made it to adulthood and coven initiation. He had never received his either, as he was supposed to wait for the Merge ceremony.

He stuffed four rings into his pocket.

He soon found newspaper clippings, in another drawer. The articles told of Jo's doctorly accomplishments, under a different last name. He rolled his eyes at the dramatics, but they also zoned in on the location. Whitmore Hospital. Now, where could that be located?

On the surface of the desk, mail sat neatly in the corner. He perused it next, stopping when he reached letters postmarked from Whitmore College in Whitmore, Virginia.

Now, that's just too coincidental, he thought.

The letters were addressed to 'The Parents of Lucas and Olivia Parker.'

Guess he had a new destination...and a new opportunity to eliminate the competition.

He left the office, but not before he pulled a worn Grimoire from the bookshelf and dropped it into the backpack.

Kai transported back to the clearing and collected Skye, headed towards the highway.

He just hoped the mall's and airport's locations hadn't changed since 1994.

*******************************************************************

Skye awoke to a stream of cold water on her face. Gasping, she sat up quickly.

"She's alive, what a relief. You know, I was worried I had botched the spell, and put you into some kind of fairytale-esque eternal sleep."

Kai's voice, of course.

He laughed shortly. "That would've been pretty stupid, right?"

She blinked a few more times, taking in her surroundings, paying him no attention. They were in a car, but not the one from before. The car was in a fairly packed parking lot, though there was an empty space beside her door. She looked to Kai, disoriented. "Where are we?"

He smirked, "Portland's airport."

"How? Why?"

Her eyes had travelled to his clothing - they were definitely not what he had been wearing when he had knocked her out at his house. In fact, they were clothes she had never seen on him before. Dark jeans that looked tight, a dark blazer-like garment, a white T-shirt with a dark bird graphic, a far cry from his usual baggy style. "What are you wear-?"

She stopped when she caught movement in her periphery. An actual car was pulling into the space beside their car, but an actual person was driving- a woman she didn't recognize. Then she looked up out of the windshield and saw a man with a briefcase walking in front of the car. In the background, an overcast sky and planes taking flight off runways, past the cluster of large and small buildings and tall towers.

"Oh, my god," she breathed, and glanced at Kai. He was smiling arrogantly, he had actually gotten them home.

"Welcome back to civilization, babe. Or should I say, welcome back to a judgmental society that somehow sucks even worse than it did in the twentieth century?" he said.

Skye panicked, her breathing getting shorter so she started taking in deeper gulps of oxygen, oxygen from 2012 - at least that's what she thought Bonnie and Damon had said that was the time they were from.

Oh, my god, Bonnie, she thought, her heart sinking. "You left Bonnie there?" she asked Kai, already knowing the answer, remembering his enigmatic speech from the hallway of his house. Her voice was quiet, soft, but it held a knowing and fearful tone that caused Kai to genuinely smile. He had been sitting there, observing her actions - the rapid rise and fall of her chest, with growing alarm, but her question and new tone seemed to bring back the amused gleam back into his eyes.

"I totally did," he confirmed smugly.

She wanted to scratch his eyes out, so she decided to take a page out of Kai's playbook, and act on her violent impulse.

Skye struck blindly over the console, fueled by rage and a sense of injustice that she had been fostering for eighteen years.

One fist made contact with his chest, judging from the "oof" he let out. The other hand's nails met the hard bone and soft flesh of his cheek, tearing viciously, marring his complexion with four raw red lines.

Before she could do more damage, however, Kai manged to grab both of her wrists, clasping them together in one of his hands, in a hold so strong and agonizing she was certain that dark bruises will decorate her skin the next day. His other hand reached for her hair, and grasping a fistful, he pulled roughly.

Skye cried out, as her head jerked back.

He brought her face close to his, his face snarling, his own rage at being battered, only partially concealed in his deadly calm tone.

"Do that again, and I will leave you in a pool of your own blood right outside that car door."

Angry tears built up in her eyes; getting her hair pulled was so demeaning, and he knew how she felt about it. So naturally that's why he did it.

"It's not fair!" she protested. "For her to still be there alone and you to be out!" She was proud that her voice never wavered during her exclamation, even as the wet moisture leaked out of the corners of her eyes and blurred her vision.

"You think being stuck for eternity, repeating the same day over and over again, on an empty planet is fair?" he demanded brusquely, titling his head and narrowing his eyes.

"You're right," she conceded softly before her voice turned hard, with contempt. "You deserve worse. I hope Damon and his friends find you and kill you. I hope Bonnie comes home and dances on your grave."

Her words caused their expected reaction: a somehow more malevolent look darkened his eyes, his jaw clenched so hard she feared it would crack. She figured she was going to know death in less than a minute, and a part of her didn't think she'd mind it that much. But then Kai clamped his eyes shut and drew in a deep, shuddering breath.

He opened them again, and refocused on her. Now his eyes were blazing, his mouth set in a deep frown. He released her hair, and let her fall back slightly.

"What will you be doing?" he asked her curiously, appraising her, serious. She stayed quiet. "I mean, if they're going to be celebrating, what will you be doing, Skyler?"

She refused to play into this game, gritting her teeth.

"Wait, I know!" he brust out, smiling. His manic performance was half-hearted though. "You'll be mourning me. Sick, isn't it? " His free hand had come up, now drawing one finger across her exposed collar bone.

She pulled her wrists out of his loosened grip, and shoved him back against his door. He snickered.

"I hate you," she spat, venom dripping off every word.

"I know," he replied somberly. Before his whole countenance brightened with a large grin. "But I like it. There's a lot of passion in hate...fine line and all that. And you're a passionate person. Plus, we've always had great hate sex...but we can discuss sex later. Right now, we need to focus on business."

She didn't care about business, but he pushed on relentlessly. "Now, I took the liberty of getting you some clothes from this century that aren't blood stained and ripe with B.O. You're welcome." He pulled a bag out from behind his seat while Skye concentrated on calming down, trying to stop thinking about the last image of Bonnie she had burned into her retinas: her sprawled across the grass, unconscious and bleeding.

Kai handed her the bag and she sat stiffly for a moment, before her curiosity triumphed and forced her to peek inside the bag. She pulled the fabric out and guessed it was a shirt - it was black and flimsy. She cringed, definitely not her style, not that was the only reason she was against it.

"Really?" she demanded.

He shrugged. "We have to blend, it's the style. Get changed, we have a flight to catch."

Skye went through the motions of changing clothes while he stood outside. She caught him peeking twice - he just flashed a dazzling smile back at her both times. The clothes of this decade were uncomfortable and form-fitting. A strip of her stomach was visible because of the hip-hugging hem of the jeans. Luckily, Kai had thoughtfully included a little leather jacket and a pair of multi-colored Converse in his purchase for her, but the gesture was lost on her.

When she stepped out of the car, he surveyed her. It may have been Skye's imagination, but she thought she saw his eyes flash with something when they fell on her chest and legs.

In the interest of distracting him from his unabashed perusal and herself from her own fury and anxiety, she asked, "How did even know what size to get?"

He sauntered forward, ready to leave the airport's parking lot, her blue backpack from the prison world looking almost out of place on his dark back. She drifted after him, expecting him to voice some unsettling and suggestive response like, "Oh, I know everything about you, Skye," that really wouldn't tell her anything. So she was surprised to hear the truth.

"One of the employees. She was about your size. Though something tells me she wouldn't have filled out that top as well as you do." So she hadn't imagined the flash.

"Where is she now? At the bottom of a lake?" The questions were biting, but it caused him to turn back, to meet her gaze, with a wicked grin.

"No, but I'm pretty sure her number is on the back of the receipt if you wanna give her a call and check."

Skye had abandoned the shopping bag in the car, and probably the receipt with it. That fact still didn't stop the urge she suddenly had to go rip the paper into tiny pieces and stuff them down his throat.

Kai kept a firm hold on her arm - from which she was able to observe that his narrow fingers now sported several rings she had never seen before - the whole process through the airport, which seemed like it took ten times longer than it did in '94. The security measures, she guessed.

Now, they were in the air. She was curled up in on herself, with her eyes closed and her fingers pressed to her temples. Kai had taken up chatting amicably with the other passengers in the aisle seat.

She had calmed visibility but the panic was alive and well on her insides, like a claw at her throat. The plane didn't help - it was too loud, too warm - she wasn't used to other people yet. Especially one that belonged in this time period. Most were self-occupied though. All had some electronic device on their lap or a cellphone in their hands (at least that's what Kai had called the similar object he had slipped into the shallow back pocket of her "skinny jeans" right after they went through the metal detectors; the devices had certainly decreased in size, as far as depth went).

"Man, is she okay?" she heard the man in the aisle seat ask Kai.

Kai put his arm around her and squeezed. "Oh, it's just my girlfriend's first time on a plane," he answered. Skye immediately smacked his leg, still not being able to shake her own impulse to hurt him. Now, if she did it in public, there was really nothing he could do in return, unless he wanted to cause a scene. He dug his fingers into her shoulders and whispered in her ear, "Maybe we shouldn't put your domestic abuse on display." She just jerked forward out of his hold and opened her eyes.

Looking to the middle-aged man, she smiled good-naturedly. "Thanks for your concern, sir, but I'm fine."

The man only glanced between the two of them for a few moments with narrowed and confused eyes, before he gave her a polite smile and pulled some device out of his front pocket along with a long white string with two little balls at the end. He stuck the balls in his ears and leaned back against the headrest of his seat, closing his eyes.

Skye stared at the man.

"Their version of a walkman and headphones," Kai informed, unprompted. "He's listening to - " Kai leaned closer to the man, putting his ears close to the man's earphones. "Ugh, classical." The man startled, but Kai pulled back with hands up in surrender. The guy was disgruntled but he settled back after a moment and gave Kai accusatory eyes.

Skye let out a sharp laugh - it was nice to know Kai was just as obnoxious to other people as he was to her, but she instantly regretted her amusement when Kai turned his attention back on her. He wasn't smiling, but appeared as if he was assessing her with a cool and critical eye.

It caused her a pit in her stomach, and she looked away.

"You know, " he began casually when she broke their eye contact, "I did the math. We would be 40 years old… you know if we hadn't gotten stuck in a alternate magical prison dimension." She stayed silent, waiting for his point to present itself. Looking around to see if they were being overheard, but nobody was paying attention. But she really wasn't prepared for where he was taking his babbling, if her reaction to his next question was any proof.

"Do you think we would've been married?"

If Skye had been drinking water, she would've spit it out on the back of the seat in front of her. She immediately looked towards him, but his neutral gaze was locked on the chair in front and he was twirling his own phone between his hands, slouching. "God, the thought of it is depressing. Being tied to each like that for the rest of our miserable life."

A part of her couldn't help but wonder how it was any different from how they were now, but she shook her head vigorously, to dislodge the thought.

She took a breath and replied, "No, you'd be in prison for killing half of your family."

"Okay, I did the math on that, too. There were ten members in my family, including myself. I only killed four. Four out of ten is two-fifths. So I only killed two-fifths of my family."

"You're. repugnant." she shot at him, unable to fathom how he could speak so casually about the atrocities he committed, like he hadn't irreparably disrupted and destroyed the lives of the people he was supposed to love, some of the lives of the people who loved him.

"I mean, if that hadn't happened, would we?" he prodded.

"Deplorable," she answered as if she hadn't heard him, though she was stunned to hear him sound so deeply curious and contemplative.

"I mean, seriously," his voice rose a pitch, and he sat up a little straighter. "Can you imagine?"

"Abhorrent." The very idea of it was abhorrent to her now, too. The idea she had contemplated with an almost embarrassing giddiness before May 9, 1994, thinking she had found a good match in Kai Parker. Funny, quirky, witty, slightly deviant Kai. Unconventional. Exciting. How utterly wrong her perception had been.

He pushed on, "I'm sure I would've snapped at some point though. Probably over something big, like undoubtedly losing my job when too many patients flat-lined on my operating table or you inevitably cheating on me with some pretentious, poetry writing co-worker."

"Despicable," she forced out through clenched jaw.

"Agnt!" He imitated a game show buzzer. "You already used one that started with a 'D.'"

Of course he would make it into a game.

So she stopped participating, a choice Kai frowned on, as he was having fun. "Aww, come on, babe. I forgot how extensive your vocabulary was. You know, since I'm so used to hearing 'asshole' and 'dick' all the time."

"You wouldn't hear those words so often if you stopped epitomizing them," she muttered. And worse.

He ignored her, tapping away once again on his cell phone.

"I see you've adjusted well," she muttered, despite herself.

"Wasn't hard," he dismissed arrogantly. Her eyes were drawn to his hands - the silver rings glinting off the sunlight coming in through the plane's windows. Four of them, two on each hand - all different styles. Each type of finger had a ring on it, except his ring fingers, ironically.

"Where did those even come from?" she asked, her curiosity overcoming her better judgment.

"Doesn't matter," he replied curtly.

"Did you buy them?"

His jaw tight, he shot her a warning glance. Plainly telling her to shut up.

She persisted with relish now. "You found them? Did you steal them?"

"Can you go back to slinging synonyms at me?" he snapped.

"You stole them," she decided with certainty. Kai exhaled loudly.

"They were supposed to be my siblings' and mine," he admitted, with frustration and some hesitation, after her pointed, determined stare.

That shut her up. Four rings, four dead siblings. What did they mean? Did they serve as reminders? Trophies?, she thought, a sick churning in her stomach. Why did she care about the rings? They were just objects .. that he kept close to him now.

Skye tore her gaze from his ringed hand, and returned her gaze to the back of the chairs in front of her. However, she was still curious, but about other issues.

"So what are your evil plans?" She had glimpsed their plane tickets. They were supposed to land in Richmond, Virginia. Was their next destination Mystic Falls? Was he going to terrorize Damon? That didn't mesh with the agenda she was imagining, knowing Kai.

"Nu uh," he resisted. "I've seen plenty of movies, babe. You see, the moment a villain reveals his plans - Boom! " He paused, to mime an explosion with his hands. "They're thwarted in the next second."

"Well, it's not that difficult to figure out," she said. "I'm assuming revenge, but you need to be powerful for that, so the Merge first. Which means finding your sister, wherever she may be now."

When she risked a glance at him, he was already watching her, seeming equal parts impressed and annoyed.

She was right, then. But that still didn't explain why they were headed to Mystic Falls.

Unless Jo was there...no, that would be too coincidental. But Damon was there. A small spark of hope flared up within her - maybe if they ran into him, he would help her.

"So you think Mystic Falls has changed much?" she asked inanely, feeling just a tad bit lighter at the prospect of a rescue from Kai's clutches.

He smirked, "We're not going to Mystic Falls." It dropped off his face in the next second, and his eyes flashed with annoyance again. "Now, shut up. Take a nap. Stop asking questions."

Her brow furrowed, but she made no further comment. Even if she didn't believe him when he said they weren't headed for Mystic Falls.

********************************

It also wasn't the destination he told the taxi driver, when they departed from Richmond's airport.

"What's Whitmore College?" she asked, after he leaned back into his seat.

"Where we're going," he said simply, glowering at her, not elaborating. He was probably regretting taking her with him from the prison world. It didn't bother her, though. In fact, it left her a bit pleased.

Kai kept fidgeting throughout the ride, tension radiating off him, while she, only partially aware of his movements, stewed in her intense confusion. She had been so certain they were going to Mystic Falls.

Thirty minutes, Kai seemed to calm and regain his good humor, though, when he began chatting with the taxi driver - an older man, that, in her opinion, held an odd resemblance to Mr. Parker.

"You ever worn skinny jeans?" he asked.

The man didn't answer, only briefly acknowledge his question with a glance in the rearview mirror, but that didn't deter Kai. "Ah, it seems wrong. I'm all bunched up." he complained, wriggling again. "Also, why are jeans so tight when phones are so big?" He took his phone from his pocket. Skye didn't think this decade's phone were all that big compared to the cellphones of the nineties, but she figured mentioning so would seem weird.

"I don't know what to tell you, pal," the drive said mechanically.

"Oh, god," Kai groaned. "I'm that guy, right? That guy that won't shut up? Ugh, I hate that guy. I sat next to that guy on the plane. He was the worst."

"Really? 'Cause you were that guy for me, Mal,"Skye interjected, with a ironic, saccharine smile. Kai only shot her a caustic look back, before he jumped forward, closer to the driver, resting his arms casually on the back of the front seat.

"Hey, speaking of planes, have you've flown recently? What's with the whole liquid situation and the stripping before you go through security thing?" Kai quizzed. "It's weird."

"They're worried about terrorists." This guy could not be less interested in Kai.

"Okay." Kai seemed mollified with his answer and leant back. "I'm sorry, but the real terrorists were some of those people taking off their shoes."

The driver, again, stayed stoic. Skye found herself really taking a liking to the man.

"I know I'm chatty," Kai said. "Sorry."

That word shocked her a bit, leaving his mouth. So did his next words.

"I've just been in prison for awhile. We both have actually, but not like a regular prison, more like a special kind-" Thankfully, he was cut off as the taxi car came to a stop.

"Alright, we're here. That'll be thirty," the driver told them.

"Alright," Kai said, digging into his jeans, struggling with the pockets. "Jeans," he muttered by way of explanation for the hold up. Finally, he pried a twenty from his pocket.

"Here, take this," he said, handing the bill to the driver's already stretched out hand.

"Hang on," Kai told him, digging for more.

Skye reached down to the backpack at her feet, ready to take a few bills from the bundles and give the man a generous tip for having to deal with an obnoxious Kai, but Kai's restraining hand on her arm stopped her motion.

"Hang on, I got it," he reassured, his other hand still digging. He tilted his hips, and pulled another item out. "Oh, hey, gum. Nice," he cheered. He offered the stick to her first, to which she responded with an "are you kidding me" look. He shrugged back in response, then unwrapped it and stuffed it in his mouth. He threw the wrapper out the open window, an action that only irritated Skye more.

"Come on, buddy. I don't have all day. Let's go," the driver grumbled.

"I got it, hold on. Huh."

All he had were those earphones, similar to the middle aged man's on the planes. Skye instantly became anxious.

"Kai…"she said cautiously.

"Well, I guess this'll do." He lunged forward, stringing the wire around the man's neck, and pulled it tight. The man struggled, desperately, seeking in vain to pull the wire from his throat. The violence itself didn't affect Skye so much as the utterly calm look on Kai's face. It was terrifying.

"Kai," she exclaimed. She reached forward, trying to break his grip on the earphones.

"Skyler," he growled, elbowing her back. He gave her another warning glance, however this one was more malignant. She relented, slumping back, knowing any more interference was futile anyway. She watched helplessly as the man continued to struggle, and Kai glanced out the window for witnesses.

She raised her hand to her mouth when the man in the front seat went limp. Oh, she wanted to scream. She curled up in on herself, but still couldn't look away. Kai adjusted the earphones, pushing one bud in each of the dead man's ear so it appeared as if he was asleep, listening to music.

Finally, Kai pulled back, and then slid across the bench seat, closer to her. She flinched away. He nudged her, until she reacted, her brain finally catching up, and opened the car door. She grabbed the backpack from her feet, and stepped out, with him not far behind. Once he shut the door, she slumped against it. She took in her surroundings absently. Trees, frolicking students, a sign welcoming them to campus.

He leaned down to the passenger side window. "Thank you," he said, rapping twice against the roof. Then he grabbed her wrist, pulling her forward, oblivious to her stupor. She could only bring herself to reflect on two things:

Kai had now upgraded to serial killer status. Of course, he would enter this world the way he had left it.

And with every life he took, with every death she bore witness to, she wondered if he knew that he was just draining the life from her too.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to everyone who gave kudos or commented! I'm glad more people get to enjoy this insane story.


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